Creeper was the first computer worm, while Reaper was the first antivirus software, designed to eliminate Creeper.

Creeper

Creeper
TypeComputer worm[1]
Isolation1971
Author(s)Bob Thomas
Operating system(s) affectedTENEX

Creeper was an experimental computer program written by Bob Thomas at BBN in 1971.[2] Its original iteration was designed to move between DEC PDP-10 mainframe computers running the TENEX operating system using the ARPANET, with a later version by Ray Tomlinson designed to copy itself between computers rather than simply move.[3] This self-replicating version of Creeper is generally accepted to be the first computer worm.[1][4] Creeper was a test created to demonstrate the possibility of a self-replicating computer program that could spread to other computers.

The program was not actively malicious software as it caused no damage to data, the only effect being a message it output to the teletype reading "I'M THE CREEPER : CATCH ME IF YOU CAN"[5][4]

Reaper

Reaper
Original author(s)Ray Tomlinson
Initial release1972
Operating systemTENEX

Reaper was the first anti-virus software, designed to delete Creeper by moving across the ARPANET. It was created by Ray Tomlinson in 1972.[3]

Cultural impact

The conflict between Creeper and Reaper served as inspiration for the programming game Core War,[3] while fictionalized versions of Reaper have been used as antagonists in the anime Digimon Tamers[6] and the visual novel Digital: A Love Story.[7] A humanized Creeper has also appeared in the webcomic Internet Explorer, alongside the likewise personified Morris Worm.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. Vol. 27–28. IEEE Computer Society. 2005. p. 74. [...]from one machine to another led to experimentation with the Creeper program, which became the world's first computer virus: a computation that used the network to recreate itself on another node, and spread from node to node. The source code of creeper remains unknown.
  2. ↑ Thomas Chen, Jean-Marc Robert (2004). "The Evolution of Viruses and Worms" (PDF). Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 John Metcalf (2014). "Core War: Creeper & Reaper". Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  4. 1 2 From the first email to the first YouTube video: a definitive internet history. Tom Meltzer and Sarah Phillips. The Guardian. 23 October 2009
  5. ↑ Sahay, Manish (January 2023). "The History of the First Computer Virus on Windows, Mac, and Linux". thepcinsider.com. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "Chronicle, The Background History". konaka.com.
  7. ↑ Christine Love (February 2010). Digital: A Love Story. *Blue Sky: When Mother realized the mistake it had made, *Reaper was created to combat the self-replicating mess it had created, and fabricated the story about a "creeper virus" in order to obfuscate the matter to human observers.
  8. ↑ "Internet Explorer – Ep. 50 – Creeper". webtoons.com. Retrieved 1 August 2022.


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