Saturday, February 03, 2007

Old skool security

While researching things for the Oldest Vulnerability Contest, I ran across a number of references to "Computer abuse perpetrators and vulnerabilities of computer systems" 1975, by Donn B. Parker. I did find it listed on Amazon, unknown binding, ASIN B0006WFZ9I. I left in on pre-order for a good year or so, but no one was ever selling one.

Mr. Parker appears to have written a number of security books and reports in the 70's and 80's, mostly while working at SRI. You can find most of his published books easily enough, but not what I'm looking for. I'm guessing it's not a regular book.

I can see that he left a collection to The Charles Babbage Institute at UMN that includes it. I'm going to check there about getting a copy. He seems to have granted some copyrights to CBI, so that might work out.

Also, anyone know if Donn Parker is still alive, and if so, how to reach him? I'd love to do an interview with him. I see references to him doing things in the early 2000's, so he can't have been gone long, if he is.

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