Safe programming wasn't even on the radar back then. I never even heard of it getting onto the radar until some time after Aleph One's outstanding whitepaper,

Safe programming wasn't even on the radar back then. I never even heard of it getting onto the radar until some time after Aleph One's outstanding whitepaper, "Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit." https://www.eecs.umich.edu/courses/eecs588/static/stack_smashing.pdf https://www.eecs.umich.edu/courses/eecs588/static/stack_smas... Edit: Yes, buffer overflows were a thing before, but I think the paper drove much more awareness.