Introducing Pardon the Intrusion, our new cybersecurity newsletter

The theory that underpins computer viruses was first made public in 1949, when computer pioneer John von Neumann presented a paper titled “Theory and Organization of Complicated Automata.” In the paper, von Neumann speculated that computer programs could reproduce themselves — effectively describing the most basic form of a malevolent virus you often hear about now. In the 70 years that have passed since then, viruses have (unfortunately) come a long way. Breaches and hacks ar