- Dec 30, 2012
- 4,809
The beginning of an everyday convenience we take for granted took place more than 100 years ago in Chicago. That’s where inventor and entrepreneur Vincent Bendix disrupted the hand-cranked starters of his day that people used to get their cars running. His starter drive gave drivers the ease and independence to insert a key and be on their way. It can be regarded as the first keyed-access, or authentication, in the automobile industry.
Another sector that relies even more heavily on authentication to keep things moving made great strides on the East Coast, at the MIT campus of the 1960s. According to the folklore of most techies, this was where the origin of bypassing online passwords began. Essentially passwords had been created to limit the amount of time students could access the system, known as CTSS. Frustrated by his inability to get his work done, PhD student Allan Scherr tweaked the system’s code. His need to get more computer time for his project may be regarded as the first time circumventing passwords (hacking) was used to gain control.
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Another sector that relies even more heavily on authentication to keep things moving made great strides on the East Coast, at the MIT campus of the 1960s. According to the folklore of most techies, this was where the origin of bypassing online passwords began. Essentially passwords had been created to limit the amount of time students could access the system, known as CTSS. Frustrated by his inability to get his work done, PhD student Allan Scherr tweaked the system’s code. His need to get more computer time for his project may be regarded as the first time circumventing passwords (hacking) was used to gain control.
More
