VOLUME 11, NO. 1     MAY 1997

Eagle-eyed students find security flaw
(and international recognition)
in Microsoft's Internet Explorer

Related Articles:

One of the more interesting e-mails that Paul Greene received as a result of his discovery of a Microsoft security flaw was this one from Kevin Flanagan of Houston, Texas:

"I realize that you are probably getting loads of mail, being famous and all, but hear me out on this one. I'd like to extend thanks to you for a different reason. Not because you found the Internet Explorer bug (I don't even use IE or Windows; Linux for me), but because you put WPI in the news. You see, I'm a high school senior from Houston, Texas. Earlier this school year I did my college searching, and ended up applying to WPI through early decision because I loved everything about it. The only problem was that here in Texas not many people have heard of WPI, or Worcester, for that matter. So a few friends were giving me a hard time because I decided to go there. The first thing one of these friends said to me this morning after reading the article about you in the Houston Chronicle was "Woah! I guess WPI is a topnotch school. Sorry about that." Anyhow, that's my little story. Congratulations again, have a great time."

Kevin Flanagan
WPI Class of 2001

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Cybersnot upstart is corporate VP

When he's not testing bugs in commercial software, Geoffrey Elliott '98, far right, maintains a corporate identity as vice president and chief technology developer for Harvest Webmasters, Inc., an Internet service company. Harvest assists clients with Web page development and offers a variety of setup, hosting and service packages. Clients include advertising agencies, staffing and recruiting agencies, financial institutions, and other small-medium businesses.

Among the Web pages hosted by Harvest is Elliott's own Cybersnot Industries page. Although the site's name (which Elliott coined in junior high) may initially have prevented some people from taking the warnings seriously, to date some 100,000 users have visited www.cybersnot.com to read about the bug and test examples. Microsoft now refers to the problem as the "Cybersnot" security issue, with no lack of respect.

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