Robert Tappan Morris
Robert Tappan Morris | |
|---|---|
Robert Morris in 2008 | |
| Born | November 8, 1965 United States |
| Other names | RTM |
| Education | Harvard University (BA, PhD) |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, partner at Y Combinator |
| Known for | Morris Worm Viaweb Y Combinator |
| Criminal status | Fulfilled |
| Parent(s) | Robert Morris, Anne Farlow Morris |
| Motive | "To demonstrate the inadequacies of current security measures on computer networks by exploiting the security defects that Morris had discovered." |
| Convictions | United States Code: Title 18 (18 U.S.C. § 1030, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), March 7, 1991) |
| Criminal penalty | 3 years of probation, 400 hours of community service, and fines of $10,050 plus costs of his supervision |
| Website | pdos |
Robert Tappan Morris (born November 8, 1965) is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is best known for creating the Morris worm in 1988, considered the first computer worm on the Internet.
Morris was prosecuted for releasing the worm, and became the first person convicted under the then-new Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). He went on to cofound the online store Viaweb, one of the first web applications, and later the venture capital funding firm Y Combinator, both with Paul Graham and Trevor Blackwell.
He later joined the faculty in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he received tenure in 2006. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2019.