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:''For other people named Steve Gibson see [[Steve Gibson (disambiguation)]]'' |
:''For other people named Steve Gibson see [[Steve Gibson (disambiguation)]]'' |
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'''Steve Gibson''' (born March 1955) is a computer enthusiast, software engineer and security expert based in [[Laguna Hills, California]]. Gibson founded [[Gibson Research Corporation]] in [[1985]], and is currently its primary of three employees. |
'''Steve Gibson''' (born March 1955) is a computer enthusiast, software engineer and Self-proclaimed security expert based in [[Laguna Hills, California]]. Gibson founded [[Gibson Research Corporation]] in [[1985]], and is currently its primary of three employees. |
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Gibson studied [[EECS]] at [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]]. |
Gibson studied [[EECS]] at [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]]. |
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Revision as of 10:08, 26 July 2007
- For other people named Steve Gibson see Steve Gibson (disambiguation)
Steve Gibson (born March 1955) is a computer enthusiast, software engineer and Self-proclaimed security expert based in Laguna Hills, California. Gibson founded Gibson Research Corporation in 1985, and is currently its primary of three employees.
Gibson studied EECS at UC Berkeley.
Works
Gibson has had a very long career in the technology field starting in his teen years. He began in hardware projects but moved more towards software development in the 1980s.
Gibson is an advocate of assembly language programming, and prides himself on writing whole applications exclusively in assembly language, including the SpinRite hard disk utility. He is one of several advocates of optimizing computer programs and reducing the size of their executables.
In the 1990s, Gibson began to move into the computer security field, developing and distributing a number of security tools, including the ShieldsUp! port-scanner, and the LeakTest firewall tester. In 2000, Gibson created one of the first adware removal programs, OptOut.
Gibson's latest work is SecurAble, which is a program that will tell the user if their CPU supports 64 bit, DEP and hardware level virtual machines.
Gibson Research Corporation
Gibson Research Corporation or GRC is a computer software development firm founded in 1985 by Gibson. The company is registered in Laguna Hills, California[1]. GRC has created a number of niche utilities over the years, the foremost of which is SpinRite, a hard disk scanning and data recovery utility.
GRC also offers a few free utilities for Internet security such as a port scan test for firewalls.
As of early 2006 GRC had three employees, including Gibson.
Media
Steve Gibson is a contributing editor to InfoWorld magazine. His writings try to provide visibility into the world of hackers and crackers, of which he counts himself one of the former.
Gibson co-hosts a computer security-focused podcast with Leo Laporte called Security Now!. Gibson appears sometimes on Leo Laporte's technology podcast, This Week in Tech. Gibson also occasionally appears on The Lab with Leo Laporte on G4techTV Canada.
In April 2006, Gibson made an acting appearance alongside technology columnist John C. Dvorak in the video podcast Up in Smoke.
Criticism
Gibson has generated controversy by taking unusual positions on security and other technical issues, and for doing so with a demeanor often perceived as self-aggrandizing. He is a contentious figure even among his fellow InfoWorld columnists.[2]
Notable examples of criticism include:
- Claimed to have "independently invented" SYN cookies, a denial of service suppression invention of professor Daniel Bernstein.[3] Supported by Linux since 1997, syncookies are widely known among programmers interested in the field.
- Stated that raw sockets in Windows XP could be the "enabling factor for the creation of a series of 'Ultimate Weapons' against which the fundamentally trusting architecture of the global Internet currently has no effective defense".[4] No such "weapons" have surfaced. Fyodor, the author of Nmap, stated that Gibson's "'findings' are not new, are always filled with massive hyperbole, and are frequently completely false".[5] Microsoft seriously "crippled" raw socket support in Windows XP Service Pack 2, probably due to criticism of users influenced by Steven Gibson and in favor for their own interface "NetMon".
- Noted that the Windows Metafile vulnerability was intentionally engineered into Windows by Microsoft as a feature making Windows Metafiles more flexible.[6] Gibson also suggested in episode 22 of his Security Now podcast that Microsoft's reason for patching the vulnerability may have been due to an "industrious hacker" who found out about it and had been using it.[7]
See also
References
- ^ Gibson Research Corporation, Techadvice.com. Retrieved on 2 February 2007.
- ^ P.J. Connolly. "Another hole in XP". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
- ^ D. J. Bernstein. "SYN cookies". D. J. Bernstein. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
- ^ Steve Gibson (September 17, 2005). "The Strange Tale of the Denial of Service Attacks on GRC.com". Gibson Research Corporation. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
- ^ Fyodor. "Nmap Hackers: Re: Steve Gibson vs. Microsoft". Nmap Hackers. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
- ^ Steve Gibson (January 12th, 2006). "grc.news.feedback". Gibson Research Corporation. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Steve Gibson (January 13, 2006). "Security Now! Episode 22 "The Windows MetaFile Backdoor?" transcript". Gibson Research Corporation. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
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External links
- GRC.com - main page
- Security Now! - Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte's podcast on computer security
- NetBIOS Fact and Fiction Examining GRC's claims about NetBIOS
- Steve Gibson invents broken SYNcookies - Article at The Register
- Windows back door rumor is bunk - Article at The Register