Cybersecurity & Cryptography · Recorded milestone

Internet worm

Recorded year1988

Robert Morris's self-copying program spreads across the internet in a day and jams about 6,000 computers, prompting the first emergency response team.

Explore this milestone on the interactive map

Built on

UNIX and CRecorded · 1971enables
TCP/IPRecorded · 1974enables

Led to

CyberweaponRecorded · 2010enables
Global ransomware attacksRecorded · 2017enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.