16 ms·
Karger and Schell in 1974 conceptualised the idea of trap doors built into compilers in their Multics Security Review. Although Ken Thompson is responsible for
by ProjectMoonShot 4y ago
Karger and Schell in 1974 conceptualised the idea of trap doors built into compilers in their Multics Security Review.
Although Ken Thompson is responsible for popularising the idea through his Turing award speech in 1984.
Edit: Ken Thompson mentions the paper in the acknowledgements of his Turing award speech.
"""
Acknowledgment. I first read of the possibility of such
a Trojan horse in an Air Force critique [4] of the security of an early implementation of Multics. I cannot find
a more specific reference to this document. I would
appreciate it if anyone who can supply this reference
would let me know.
"""
- golemotron 4y agoThanks.
- Thoreandan 4y agoThanks for the reference! Found the 1974 paper https://web.archive.org/web/20030410020522/https://www.acsac.org/2002/papers/classic-multics-orig.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20030410020522/https://www.acsac... and the "Thirty Years Later: Lessons from the Multics Security Evaluation" followup https://web.archive.org/web/20030410095057/https://www.acsac.org/2002/papers/classic-multics.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20030410095057/https://www.acsac... Always neat to have lost sources show up eventually. Librarians rule.