# The first worm

> A student released a small program onto the internet. It infected about a tenth of the network.

URL: https://iamcanturk.dev/en/shorts/ilk-solucan/
Pixel Shorts #19 · November 2, 2026 · on this day

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**In short:** The Morris worm infected roughly a tenth of the internet on 2 November 1988, getting in through sendmail's DEBUG mode, gets in fingerd and weak passwords. The first step is the same today: change your router's default admin password.

The date was November 2, 1988. The worm started around 6 in the evening.


## What's in the video?
A student released a small program onto the internet. It infected about a tenth of the network. The date was November 2, 1988. The worm started around 6 in the evening. The worm didn't delete files. But 1 in every 7 copies never died. Copies piled up, and some machines stopped completely. First door: the DEBUG mode left open in sendmail. Second door: gets in fingerd. Nobody checked the length of the input. Third door: weak passwords and a 432-word list. Morris became the first person convicted under the US computer crime law. Today he teaches at MIT. 38 years later, Anthropic warned: small models are getting close to copying themselves onto cheap devices. To be fair: there's no full AI worm yet. The report calls these early signs. Try it yourself: check the devices connected to your router. Change the default admin password. Tomorrow: my assistant wrote the payment code. A fake request approved the order.