Operating system penetration

Abstract

One of the favorite diversions of university students involves beating the system. In the case of operating systems, this has been a remarkably easy accomplishment. An extensive lore of operating penetration, ranging from anecdotes describing students who have outsmarted the teacher's grading program to students who captured the system's password list and posted it on one of the bulletin boards, has been collected on college campuses. Private industry has been victimized much more seriously. Here the lore of system penetrations contains scenarios involving the loss of tens of thousands of dollars.