Hackers Given Cyber Rocket Launchers - The SATAN Riots, 1995."

Hackers Given Cyber Rocket Launchers - The SATAN Riots, 1995."

In 1995, the release of SATAN, a vulnerability scanner developed for network administrators, sent shockwaves through the security industry and society. Although originally intended as a research tool to diagnose system flaws and strengthen defenses, its automated detection function made it potentially easy for attackers to use, and society saw it as "the indiscriminate distribution of a dangerous weapon. The U.S. press used radical metaphors, with the Oakland Tribune describing it as "like distributing automatic weapons," the San Jose Mercury as "like distributing rocket launchers for free," and the Los Angeles Times decrying it as "the equivalent of giving guns to 12-year-olds. At a time when the Internet was expanding from universities and research labs to businesses and homes, and security measures were underdeveloped, the appearance of SATAN highlighted the divide between the "transparency and improvement" demanded by researchers and the "abuse and confusion" feared by so
ciety. SATAN has been symbolized as "hackers given cyber rocket launchers.