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You're listening to the CyberWire Network

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powered by N2K. The

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word is endpoint. Spelled

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E as in email, N as

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in noob, D as in device,

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P as in ping, O as

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in ope. Overflow, I as in

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infinite, N as in

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noop, and T as in Thomas.

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Definition 1. A hardcore punk band

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out of Louisville. Definition

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2. A recursive definition. A

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device connected to a network

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that accepts communications from other

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endpoints like laptops, mobile devices,

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IoT equipment, router switches, and

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any tool on the security

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stack. Example

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sentence. Most organizations have

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a large number of endpoints connected in

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their networks. Origin

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and context. In the early

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days of computing, the first endpoints were

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big mainframes. By the

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1970s, researchers began experimenting with self-replicating

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code distributed to those endpoints via

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their common networks, like the creeper

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worm written by Bob Thomas in

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1971. By

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the 1980s, personal computers had entered the market,

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and in 1986, the Brain Boot sector virus

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started to propagate. According

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to Daniel Snyder at InfoCarnivore, Brain

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Boot came with contact information for the

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authors who created it. It

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was a simpler time. By the late 1980s,

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the first antivirus programs started appearing

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as freeways. or shareware tools.

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Between 1987 and 1989, researchers

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used a bulletin board chat group

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called Virus L to exchange information,

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tools, and shareware for the purpose

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of removing virus infections. By

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the early 1990s, personal computers, the

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new endpoints, became common office

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tools and commercial antivirus vendors catered

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both to the home user and

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business IT shops. But it

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was clear at this point that endpoints

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must be protected in cyberspace. Cybersecurity

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nerd lore. One of

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the Virus L bulletin board chat group

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members was John McAfee. In

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1989, McAfee started his own endpoint

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protection company, McAfee Associates, and in

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a few short years became one

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of the most famous and eventually

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infamous cybersecurity personalities ever. In

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1992, he launched a marketing campaign

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that warned the world of the

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Michelangelo virus that he claimed could

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already be infecting up to 5

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million PCs worldwide. He predicted

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that on 6th March of that year, it

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would destroy the data on all those infected

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hard drives. Sales, boom. According

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to Andrew Kaus at the website Digital

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Trends, by that March, at least half

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the Fortune 500 companies had

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deployed the McAfee Associates antivirus

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product. But on 7th March,

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nothing happened. Security pundits

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accused Mr. McAfee of fabricating the entire

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thing. But 1994,

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Mr. McAfee's reputation was so bad that the

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board forced him out of his company with

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a whopping $100 million

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severance package. After

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that, he dabbled into a few

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other businesses, became a yoga guru,

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and enthusiastically embraced the sport of

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aero-treking, an insane sport which, according

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to Clouts, involves soaring through the

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air on a half-motorcycle, half-hang glider

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contraption called a kite plane. After

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an accident where two people died, Mr. McAfee

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fled the Belize to escape a lawsuit. where

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the real craziness kicked in. With

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alleged paranoia, a harem of

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allegedly underaged women, alleged drugs,

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alleged mercenaries, and potentially alleged

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murder. Allegedly. Oh,

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also libertarian politics and YouTube

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videos flagging this former tragedy.

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Hi everybody, it's Maria Varmazis here,

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your host over at T-Minus Space

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Daily, and sometimes a guest on

4:40

Hacking Humans 2. We

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