Significant Moments in Security History

Julius Caesar’s bodyguard uses his mother’s maiden name as password to Senate meeting. Brutus easily gains entrée and he, too, assassinates Caesar.

William the Conqueror takes advantage of misconfigured firewall. Saxons use too much hot tar, accidentally burn down their own fort at Hastings. King Harold loses England.

Longtime disgruntled employee Benedict Arnold steals intellectual property from his employer, America, to help England gain West Point and Hudson River. America intercepts the espionage and eventually becomes a superpower. Meanwhile, the sun sets on British Empire.

Twenty-three-year-old genius Orson Welles perfects social engineering with War of the Worlds broadcast; scares the bejeezus out of entire nation. Nation reciprocates three years later, denying Citizen Kane eight Oscars, including Best Picture.

Presidential candidate George W. Bush forgets to encrypt a message to vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney in which he calls a reporter “a major-league &%&$#!.” Entire nation hears, elects Bush leader of the free world anyway.