Hackers given cyber rocket launchers - the SATAN fiasco, 1995."

Hackers given cyber rocket launchers - the SATAN fiasco, 1995."

In 1995, the release of the vulnerability scanner SATAN (Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks) sent tremors through the information security world. Originally, SATAN was a research tool for network administrators to diagnose their own environments and develop defenses. However, its automated vulnerability detection capabilities were also extremely useful to attackers, allowing even the uninitiated to mimic a system intrusion. What was intended by the researchers as an attempt to educate and improve the environment was seen by society as the indiscriminate distribution of a dangerous weapon.

The American media collectively sounded the alarm. The Oakland Tribune wrote, "It's like distributing automatic weapons," and the San Jose Mercury declared, "It's like giving away rocket launchers for free. The Los Angeles Times further emphasized that it was "tantamount to giving guns to 12-year-olds," spreading anxiety and fear in society. Thus, SATAN became an incident that quickly made visible the controversy surrounding the release of research results.

At the time, the Internet was rapidly becoming commercialized and spreading from universities and research institutes to businesses and homes. However, security measures were not yet in place, and firewalls and intrusion detection systems were not yet common. Under these circumstances, the widespread release of tools that facilitated attacks caused strong unrest in a society with immature security measures.

The SATAN scandal highlighted the deep gulf between the "improvement through transparency" demanded by researchers and the "confusion caused by misuse" held by the public.

The incident became the starting point for subsequent ethical debates in security research. Is it good or bad to disclose vulnerabilities and tools? The debate over the line between public interest and danger continued, and SATAN became symbolic of the "hackers who were given cyber rocket launchers.