British big cats and Steve Gibson (computer programmer): Difference between pages

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'''British big cats''', sometimes referred to as ABCs, short for Alien Big Cats or Anomalous Big Cats, '''phantom cats''' or '''mystery cats''', are non native [[big cats]], said to be roaming the [[countryside]] of the [[British Isles]]. For many years their existence has been debated and many scientists have dismissed them as [[fake]]. To this day they are thought of as an exotic part of [[List of British mammals|British wildlife]] by some and as an [[urban legend]] by most. Those sighted are often claimed to be "panthers", "pumas", or "black cats".
{{for|other people named Steve Gibson|Steve Gibson (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox Person
| name = Steve Gibson
| image = SteveG.jpg
| caption = Steve in between shots on [[Leo Laporte]]'s [[Call For Help]] in [[Toronto]] April, 2007.
| birth_name =
| birth_date = March 1955
| birth_place = [[Dayton, Ohio]], [[United States]]
| death_date =
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| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| residence = [[Laguna Hills, California]] <br /> [[USA]]
| nationality = [[United States| U.S. American]]
| other_names =
| known_for = [[Security Now!]] [[audio]] [[podcast]] on [[TWiT.tv (network)]]
| education = [[EECS]] at [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]]
| employer =
| occupation = [[Software Engineer]] and <br />Security Analyst
| title = [[Computer Programmer]]
| salary =
| networth =
| height =
| weight =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
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| signature =
| website = [http://www.grc.com/ GRC.com]
| footnotes =
}}


'''Steve Gibson''' (born March 1955, [[Dayton Ohio]]) is a computer enthusiast, [[software engineer]] and security researcher who studied [[EECS]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]]. Gibson is also an [[LGBT]] advocate who currently lives with his partner in [[Laguna Hills, California]].{{fact}} In 1985, Gibson founded Gibson Research Corporation, which is most well known for it's [[SpinRite]] software.
Hundreds of sightings of big cats are reported in Britain every year, and some at close quarters. Annual statistics and reports are published by The Big Cats in Britain research network.<ref>[http://www.bigcatsinbritain.org The Big Cats in Britain research network]</ref> Approximately 85% of these animals are described as black, while most others are unpatterned brown. The only species of big cat which can be black are [[leopards]] and [[jaguars]], whose melanistic forms are popularly known as [[Black panther (animal)|black panthers]].{{Fact|date=May 2008}}


==Works==
==History and origins==
Gibson has had a very long career in the technology field - his resume lists jobs he has held back to the age of 13 <ref name="resume">http://www.grc.com/resume.htm</ref>. He began in hardware projects but moved more towards software development in the 1980s. One of his early successes during this period was a [[light pen]] graphics system for the Apple II.
Many stories have arisen over the years to explain how such animals could be living in the British countryside, ranging from allegations of fakery and mistaken identity, to proposals of surviving [[Last ice age|Ice Age]] fauna, or even that the cats have a supernatural origin. Some of these ideas are considered to be more credible than others, and some receive much more publicity than others. These are the major theories so far put forward:


Gibson is an advocate of [[assembly language]] programming, and prides himself on writing smaller applications mostly in Intel x86 assembly language, including much of the code of the [[SpinRite]] hard disk utility used at the beginning of the PC era. He is one of several advocates of optimizing computer programs and reducing the size of their executables.
===Survivors from the prehistoric past===


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, [http://www.grc.com/optout.htm OptOut].
The [[leopard]] became extinct in [[Great Britain]] at the end of the last [[Ice Age]], around 12,000 years ago.{{Fact|date=February 2008}}


Gibson's latest work is ''SecurAble'', which is a program that will tell the user if their CPU supports 64 bit, DEP ([[Data Execution Prevention]]) and hardware level virtual machines.
The [[Eurasian lynx]] was originally thought to have become extinct in the UK before the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] arrived, but some bones in [[Scotland]] have been dated as from around AD 180. This means that small numbers hung on in remnants of the [[Caledonian Forest]] for longer than previously thought. More recent research by David Hetherington dates a skull found in [[Yorkshire]] to around 500 AD.<ref>Hetherington, D. A., Lord, T. C. and Jacobi, R. M. 2005. New evidence for the occurrence of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in medieval Britain. J. Quaternary Sci., Vol. 21 pp. 3-8</ref>


===Gibson Research Corporation===
The [[wildcat]] became extinct in [[England]] and [[Wales]] in the 19th Century, but still exists in Scotland in relics of the [[Caledonian Forest]].<ref>Lawrence M.J. & Brown R.W. 1967, Mammals of Britain: their tracks trails and signs, Blandford Press, London, pp.58-61</ref> However, wild cats are unlikely to be confused with big cats in any case.
''Gibson Research Corporation'' or ''GRC'' is a computer [[software development]] firm founded in 1985 by Gibson. The company is registered in [[Laguna Hills, California]]<ref>[http://www.techadvice.com/help/company/g/gibson-r.htm Gibson Research Corporation], ''Techadvice.com''. Retrieved on [[2 February]] [[2007]].</ref>. GRC has created a number of niche [[computer software|utilities]] over the years, the foremost of which is [[SpinRite]], a [[hard disk]] scanning and [[data recovery]] utility.


As of mid 2008 GRC had three employees, including Gibson. Gibson also founded ''Gibson Laboratories, Inc.'' in 1981, a predecessor to ''GRC''<ref name="resume"/>.
===A form unknown to science===
It has been suggested{{Fact|date=February 2008}} that reported sightings of big cats could be due to feral hybrids of domestic cats and either [[wild cat]]s or a small exotic cats such as [[jungle cat]]s or [[caracal]]s. The [[Kellas Cat]] of [[Scotland]] is an example of this. Also suggested are hybrids of escaped exotics such as [[cougar]]s and [[leopard]]s, which have been produced in captivity and are known as a [[pumapard]]s, but they are prone to dwarfism and none survived to breed. Although female hybrid big cats are fertile, males are sterile and a breeding population would be next to impossible.{{Fact|date=February 2008}}


==Media==
===Escaped or released animals that have gone feral===
Steve Gibson is a contributing editor to [[InfoWorld]] magazine. His writings try to provide visibility into the world of ''[[Hacker (computing)|hackers]]'' and ''[[Hacker (computing)#Hacker: Intruder and criminal|crackers]]'', of which he counts himself one of the former.
Cats could have escaped from traveling circuses in the [[Victorian era]]. {{Fact|date=February 2008}}


Gibson co-hosts a weekly 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 used to occasionally appear on ''[[The Lab with Leo Laporte]]'' on ''[[G4techTV Canada]]''.
Cats could have been released by people who attempted to create a population for hunting or some other purpose in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] times, when many animals were released into the countryside. This was legal until the [[Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981]].{{Fact|date=February 2008}}


In April 2006, Gibson made an acting appearance alongside technology columnist [[John C. Dvorak]] in the [[vodcast|video podcast]] [http://cigarvideopodcast.com/ ''Up in Smoke''].
Cats could have escaped during the 1960s and 1970s when it was easy to keep dangerous animals without breaking the law of the time.{{Fact|date=February 2008}}


==Controversy==
Cats could have been released after the [[Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976]]<ref>[http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/gwd/wildact.htm Defra, UK - Wildlife & countryside - Global wildlife - Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> came into force. Many owners did not want to have their animals put down or taken away, and could not afford to licence them, so they released them in remote locations where the animals established feral populations. This is considered the most likely explanation, and is the most often heard. The British Big Cat Society claims to have evidence of at least 23 releases of big cats in Britain, However this evidence has not been published.{{Fact|date=February 2008}}
<!-- **Note**
Please source ALL additions with <ref></ref> to keep things verifiable and neat. If you don't feel comfortable with citation template, just leave a url, someone will fix it. Per BLP, do not add material without an appropriate reference. Please note that per BLP, references need to show that there is a controversy, not simply that that Gibson's position is unsupported. -->


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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/07/16/010716opsecurity.html |title= Another hole in XP |accessdate=2006-06-25 |author=P.J. Connolly |publisher= InfoWorld}}</ref>
However, the fact that 85% of big cat sightings are of black animals strains this theory. Black 'panthers' are rare and have always been valuable: it follows that any irresponsible owner wishing to save money would release the spotted leopards and sell the black ones. Yet in forty years, and among many thousands of sightings, no-one has ever reported seeing a spotted leopard.{{Or|date=May 2008}}


Notable examples of criticism include:
===Supernatural creatures===
* Is known to have worked closely with [[John McAfee]] on the marketing of the [[ZoneAlarm]] firewall and to have begun his ShieldsUp! application at McAfee's behest. This collaboration extended through the followup "leak test" when McAfee began tooling [[ZoneAlarm]] with egress control. Gibson also hosted extensive forums for [[McAfee]]'s [[ZoneAlarm]], all the while claiming he wasn't selling anything (and incurring the ridicule of the mainstream media). His techniques were cited as reminiscent of what [[McAfee]] and he had done a generation earlier with the [[antivirus]] industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://radsoft.net/resources/software/reviews/za/19990913154900.shtml |title=13 Sep 1999 15:49:00 - Steve Gibson begins work on Shields Up |accessdate=2008-07-15 |author=Radsoft |publisher=Radsoft}}</ref>
Some people believe that the reported big cats are supernatural creatures or [[ghosts]] that haunt remote areas, or are in some way associated with the "[[Black dog (ghost)|Devil Dogs]]" or [[Barghest]]s (such as the [[Black Shuck]]) of other areas of [[England]].<ref>An example of this idea is found in Bord, J & C. "Alien Animals" (Granada 1980), p.204.</ref> A similar belief is that they are [[ghost]]s of cats which lived in the area in the past.<ref>[http://www.ufodigest.com/news/1206/alienbigcats.html Alien Big Cats - Paranormal Panthers - Shape-shifters?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. Other people take the similarity of big cat sightings to reports of supernatural events to be evidence for their nonexistence, and suggest that such sightings typify cultural mythologies.
* Claimed to have "independently invented" [[SYN cookies]], a [[SYN flood]] denial of service avoidance technique invented by [[Daniel J. Bernstein]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cr.yp.to/syncookies.html |title=SYN cookies |accessdate=2006-06-25 |author=D. J. Bernstein |publisher=D. J. Bernstein}}</ref> SYN cookies have been supported in [[Linux]] since 1997. SYN cookies are widely known among programmers involved in the field {{Fact|date=August 2008}}. Steve states that he was previously unaware of Daniel's technique until it was pointed out to him in a forum posting. After exchanging emails with him to confirm, he now attributes Daniel as the "principal originator" of the idea several years before him. <ref>http://www.grc.com/r&d/nomoredos.htm</ref>

* 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".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm |title=The Strange Tale of the Denial of Service Attacks on GRC.com |accessdate=2006-06-25 |author=Steve Gibson |date=[[2005-09-17]] |publisher=[[Gibson Research Corporation]]}}</ref> No such "weapons" have surfaced. [[Gordon Lyon|Fyodor]], the author of the [[Nmap|Nmap Security Scanner]], stated that Gibson's "'findings' are not new, are always filled with massive hyperbole, and are frequently completely false".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://seclists.org/nmap-hackers/2001/0025.html |title=Nmap Hackers: Re: Steve Gibson vs. Microsoft |accessdate=2006-12-24 |author=Fyodor |authorlink=Gordon Lyon |publisher=Nmap Hackers}}</ref> Microsoft limited raw socket support in [[Windows XP#Service Pack 2|Windows XP Service Pack 2]] in favor of their own interface, ''NetMon'', a move described by some as "crippling". It is believed that Microsoft's decision was influenced by criticism from Steve Gibson, among others. On episode #155 of the [[Security Now]] podcast, Steve states that because Windows XP SP2 and later does not have raw-socket support, the danger from a DNS vulnerability announced in August 2008 was mitigated. "Windows-based bot fleets" taking advantage of the vulnerability by spoofing UDP packets were not possible, because Windows XP is not able to build it's "own UDP packet and put any source IP in it"<ref>http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-155.txt</ref>. The attacks could only be launched from a raw-sockets-enabled OS, which limits XP's potential danger to the internet if the system was commandeered for malicious purposes.<ref>http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-008.txt</ref>
One theory asserts that the reported big cats are what the Ancient Greeks, in particular the [[Syria]]n [[Neoplatonist]] [[Iamblichus]] (died AD 326), defined as '''daimones''' or in English '[[daimons]]'. These are intermediate beings, both material and immaterial, well known to traditional societies as, for instance, [[trolls]], [[Brownie (mythology)|brownies]], [[fairies]], [[kobold|kobbolds]] and so on, but discredited by modern Western culture. It is the daimons' relegation to the cultural dustbin, so the theory goes, that has forced them to adopt rather more insistently noticeable forms such as big, menacing 'black panthers'. This idea was first put forward by Merrily Harpur in ''Mystery Big Cats'' (Heart of Albion 2006).
* Claimed that the [[Windows Metafile vulnerability]] was intentionally engineered into Windows by somebody at [[Microsoft]] as a [[backdoor]] for their use.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[Gibson Research Corporation]] |url=http://12078.net/grcnews/article.php?group=grc.news.feedback&id=60006 |title=grc.news.feedback |accessdate=2007-11-06 |author=Steve Gibson |date=[[2006-01-12]]}} "The only conclusion that can reasonably be drawn is that this was a deliberate backdoor put into all of Microsoft's recent editions of Windows."</ref> He maintains that the backdoor was intentional, though not necessarily officially mandated by Microsoft (e.g. a rogue employee may have put it in). Gibson also suggested in episode 22 of his [[Security Now]] podcast that [[Microsoft]]'s reason for patching the vulnerability was due to an "industrious hacker" finding out about it and using it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-022.htm |title=Security Now! Episode 22 "The Windows MetaFile Backdoor?" transcript |accessdate=2006-06-25 |author=Steve Gibson |coauthors=[[Leo Laporte]] |date=[[2006-01-13]] |publisher=[[Gibson Research Corporation]]}}</ref> No evidence has been presented by any other researcher suggesting that the WMF vulnerability was a backdoor. Microsoft denies the allegations<ref>http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177100970</ref>.

* Claims to have coined the term [[spyware]]. In many [[Security Now!]] episodes he is introduced by co-host [[Leo Laporte]] as "the man who discovered spyware, coined the term, wrote the first anti-spyware program"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.twit.tv/sn142 |title=Security Now! episode 142 |accessdate=2008-05-23 |publisher=Twit}}</ref> Although he was the first to use the term to describe advertising software, the word "spyware" has been around since 1995<ref name="coinage">Vossen, Roland (attributed); October 21, 1995; [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.programmer/browse_thread/thread/86a426b0147496d8/3b5d1936eb4d0f33?lnk=st&q=&rnum=8#3b5d1936eb4d0f33 Win 95 Source code in c!!] posted to rec.games.programmer; retrieved from groups.google.com November 28, 2006.</ref>, when it was used in a joke about Microsoft's networking stack.
===First sightings===
In the 1760s the great radical writer, [[William Cobbett]] recalled in his ''Rural Rides'' how, as a boy, he had seen a cat 'as big as a middle-sized Spaniel dog' climb into a hollow elm tree in the grounds of the ruined [[Waverley Abbey]] near [[Farnham]] in [[Surrey]]. Later, in [[New Brunswick]], he saw a 'lucifee' (North American [[lynx]] – Felis lynx canadensis) 'and it seemed to me to be just such a cat as I had seen at Waverley.'<ref>William Cobbett: Rural Rides (1830), p204 in Penguin 2001 edition</ref>. Another old report was found by David Walker from ''[[The Times]]'' in 1827 of a "lynx" being seen.<ref>[http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/sightings/1926/inverness5.html Inverness Big Cat<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><br />Farther back there is a medieval Welsh poem "Pa Gwr" in the [[Black Book of Carmarthen]] which mentions a ''[[Cath Palug]]'' "Palug's cat" or "clawing cat" which roamed [[Anglesey]] until slain by [[Sir Kay|Cei]]. In the [[Welsh Triads]], it was the offspring of the monstrous sow [[Henwen]].<ref>[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/bbc31.html Arthur and the Porter<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
However the first ''regular'' sightings of big cats in Britain were in the 1960s, and since then they have been gradually increasing over the past 40 years to the present.

==Evidence==
Although much evidence has been put forward over the years, none has led to official acceptance of the big cats' existence. Many of the pictures were either taken from such a distance that it is impossible to make out the animal, or the picture is of poor quality. A few examples of hoaxes have also been exposed.

===Captures and remains===
There has been only one capture of a big cat - a puma which though not officially classed as a ''big cat'' is of leopard size. "Felicity the puma" was alleged to have been captured by farmer Ted Noble at Cannich, [[Inverness-shire]], Scotland in 1980, after a string of sightings from the area, which are supposed to have continued after her capture. She lived out her days as a tourist attraction at the [[Highland Wildlife Park]], [[Kingussie]]. There remains some controversy over whether she had ever been "wild" for any period of time. After her death she was stuffed and mounted and is now on display in the Inverness Museum, [[Inverness]], [[Highland council area|Highland]].

In July 2005 a farmer in [[North Devon]] discovered a large cat's skull, which has since been identified as a puma's. It was apparently taken for scientific analysis, though no results have ever been released. It follows many reports of cats in the area ([[Beast of Exmoor]]), and even a report of a farmer shooting and later burying a puma.<ref>[http://www.britishbigcats.org/index.php British Big Cats - British Big Cats Society, Prove and Protect, Big Cat Sightings, Official Website<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

A Eurasian [[lynx]] was shot in summer 1991 near [[Norwich]], [[Norfolk]]. It had killed around 15 sheep within two weeks. The story was only reported in 2003, and the lynx is apparently now in the possession (as taxidermy) of a collector in [[Suffolk]]. For many years this incident was considered to have been a hoax, particularly by the hunting community, But in March 2006 a police report confirmed that the case was true. It was probably an escapee from a facility in the area that bred animals including Eurasian lynxes.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4830320.stm] BBC News</ref>

A [[clouded leopard]], a rare cat species of southeast Asia, escaped in [[Kent]] in 1975. She was shot nine months later and had fed on [[rabbit]]s and [[domestic sheep|lamb]]s in the meantime.

A jungle cat (presumably killed by a vehicle collision) was found at the side of the road near [[Ludlow]], [[Shropshire]], in 1989. It was rumoured that the cat mated with farm cats in the area and produced offspring, including a cat, called "Jasper", who had all the characteristics of a [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]].

A [[leopard cat]] was shot by Stuart Skinner on the [[Isle of Wight]] after mistaking it for a fox taking his poultry. However it was not reported immediately because he thought he had shot a protected species.

A Eurasian [[lynx]] was captured in [[Cricklewood]] (near [[Golders Green]]), [[Greater London]] in 2001 after a witness reported "a leopard sat on her garden wall". The lynx was captured and later taken to [[London Zoo]].

A Eurasian lynx was shot by an [[Royal Ulster Constabulary|RUC]] marksman in [[Fintona]], [[County Tyrone]], [[Northern Ireland]] in 1996. Its body is currently in the freezer of a museum in Belfast.

A puma was shot in 1987 by police officers near to the [[Greenwich Observatory]], [[Greater London]].

A [[jungle cat]] was killed as it crossed the road at [[Hayling Island]], [[Hampshire]] in 1988.

In 1988 a leopard was shot and killed by a farmer at [[Widecombe-in-the-Moor]], [[Dartmoor]], [[Devon]].

In May 1980, a dead [[lion]]ess was found in a lake near a disused railway quarry in [[St Helens, Merseyside|St Helens]], [[Lancashire]]. However, this story may be false due to allegations that the animal had been deliberately drowned.

In the late 1970s, a [[puma]] was caught near the Civic Centre in [[Barnstaple]], Devon.

===Video and photographic evidence===
Many photographs have been taken of "cats" over the years, nearly all indeterminate, some fakes. In recent years indeterminate evidence has also come from [[Closed circuit television|CCTV]] cameras.

* The legendary "Fen Tiger" was filmed by Mr. William Rooker in [[Cambridgeshire]] in 1994. The video lasts for around 2 minutes, and it remains the best video footage to date. The video probably shows a [[black panther]] stalking a field.

* A photograph of a large black cat was taken on the Kent marshes in 1998. The animal in the photo is definitely feline, very dark brown in colour, but not a black leopard. It is difficult to judge the size of the cat in the photo, and some have said that it shows a jungle cat.

* Two pieces of video footage, one from [[Cornwall]] in 1999 and one from the [[Isle of Wight]] in 2001 appear to show large black cats.

* A probable puma was caught by CCTV cameras at a car park in [[Hertfordshire]] in August 2005.

* A probable black panther was recorded on a [[Closed circuit television|CCTV]] camera in a working brickyard near [[Telford]], [[Shropshire]] in the summer of 1999.

* A photo of a large, black cat at [[Bexley]], Kent was taken in February 2006. Sightings had been reported there since 2003.

* On more than one occasion, [[police helicopter]]s have tracked what are thought to be big cats on infra red surveillance cameras. However, many of these animals are soon lost amongst dense woodland.

* In June 2006 a large black cat was filmed in the countryside of [[Banff]], [[Aberdeenshire]]. Footage of the cat was broadcast by the BBC on 24 May 2007.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_6680000/newsid_6685900?redirect=6685933.stm&news=1&bbram=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1] 'Big cat' sighting on video, BBC Scotland, 24 May 2007]</ref> The cat filmed has been assumed to exemplify the characteristics of a small panther or lynx and meets the accounts given in separate sightings.

[[Image:Lynx lynx.jpg|thumb|300px|A Eurasian Lynx]]

===Livestock kills===
* Many accounts of famous animals stem from livestock kills, mostly to sheep. The [[Beast of Exmoor]] and the [[Beast of Bodmin]] are examples. In recent years, cows, sheep and even horses have been attacked.

* Between April 2004 and July 2005 there were five reported attacks on horses and 37 incidents regarding sheep kills.

* Deer kills are also noted, and have been recorded on [[Roe deer]] in [[Somerset]] and Shropshire. A deer carcass was found stashed in a tree in Somerset in 2004.

* Livestock kills have been noted in many counties, but they are centred in Devon.

* In January 2004 a farmer with pastures in Stoke St Michael near [[Shepton Mallet]], Somerset, reported that he had lost four ewes to predatory animal attacks but what was more surprising was a fatal attack on a six-month-old [[Aberdeen Angus]] calf that weighed more than twice the weight of an average adult human. The bodies of the animals had large puncture marks around their throats and heads and in some, their stomachs had also been eaten. He described how these attacks had affected the behaviour of his remaining livestock, with animals that were fairly friendly before becoming nervous and almost aggressive after the incident.

===Sightings===
It is impossible to establish how many people have seen big cats in the UK, as many go unreported. However the research group ''Big Cats in Britain''[http://www.bigcatsinbritain.org BCIB]publishes reported sightings annually by county.

Upon seeing a big cat, many advise that it be reported immediately to the land owner and the local police, although there is no legal requirement to report it to anybody. A number of organisations exist that monitor these animals, these vary in size from one individual to a group with 40+ members. Most will happily share their data with other workers in the area if they don't have a local worker. If reporting your sighting to a group, particularly if you want advice, confirm that they have a local member that you can contact - it saves time with describing the geography of the area, etc. Sightings can be reported via many of the websites below.

Police often advise against trying to shoot the cats where sightings have occurred to deter "big game hunters". However, nobody has gone public to date about actively setting out to shoot one with any success.

As of 2007, the only county in England where no sightings have been reported is Greater Manchester.

The "top ten" counties or regions of Great Britain between April 2004 and July 2005 were:<ref>''BBC Wildlife Magazine'', April 2006</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
| '''County'''
| [[Devon]]
| [[Yorks]]
| [[Scotland]]
| [[Wales]]
| [[Gloucestershire|Gloucs]]
| [[Sussex]]
| [[Cornwall]]
| [[Kent]]
| [[Somerset]]
| [[Leics]]
|-
| '''Number of Sightings'''
| 132
| 127
| 125
| 123
| 104
| 103
| 99
| 92
| 91
| 89
|}

These figures though are seriously disputed and one of the biggest study groups maintains that Yorkshire has far more sightings than any other county.

The numbers of sightings by region between January 2003 and March 2004:

{| class="wikitable"
| '''Region or Country'''
| [[The Midlands]]
| [[South East England|South East]] (includes [[London]])
| [[Scotland]]
| [[Wales]]
| [[West Country|South West]]
| [[East Anglia]]
| [[Northern England|The North]]
| [[Northern Ireland]]
|-
| '''Number of Sightings'''
| 368
| 329
| 226
| 102
| 430
| 246
| 288
| 62
|}

===Paw prints===
* Many paw prints have been photographed over the years - some have even been taken as a plaster cast. However, some people have found tracks thinking they are of big cats to find they are of other animals, such as dogs, foxes, badgers, and in one case even rabbits.

* In March 2006, [[Warwickshire Museum]] put a cast of a huge paw print on display. The cast was taken by a farmer from [[Barford]] in November 2004 and donated to the museum. The farm's [[gamekeeper]] had watched what he believed to be a large black Leopard, hunt and catch a pheasant and noticed the fresh print in the mud. The print can still be viewed at [[Warwickshire]] Museum, [[England]].

* Golfers using a course near [[Bewdley]], near [[Kidderminster]] in Worcestershire have grown used to finding large paw marks in the bunkers. They claim that the marks appear every two or three weeks and have been a regular occurrence for several years.

* During heavy snowfall in [[Droitwich]] in Worcestershire in the winter of 2002-3, a woman living on the Chawson estate reported seeing a large, black cat in her garden, followed by the discovery of large paw prints. This story differs from other big cat reports in that it takes place in the middle of a residential area rather than a rural area. The countryside around Droitwich is thought to be home to a population of big cats, and a local farmer has even purchased two [[llamas]] to protect his sheep.

* Large paw prints were found near to [[Huddersfield]] in 2005, which prompted the local paper 'The Examiner' to offer a £500 reward for photographic images of the animal that made them. The cash is yet to be claimed.

* February 2006 saw Police claim that they had found the first conclusive proof a Scottish big cat that had been dubbed the "Beast of Balbirnie" after sightings of it in [[Fife]]. Officers took a plaster cast of a paw print which was later verified by experts as that of an 18-month-old exotic large cat, most likely the print of a black leopard's paw. After several sightings at once on the Balbirnie Estate near [[Glenrothes]] the police investigated and discovered the print. Experts could not be species-specific due to a lack of specific clarity in the heel pad but believed that judging by the size of the print, the animal was around 18 months old.

===Skulls===
Three hoax skulls have been found in the UK, all in Devon and Cornwall. They were found on [[Dartmoor]], [[Bodmin Moor]] and [[Exmoor]]. They were all sent to the [[Natural History Museum]], where they were all found to have been mounted on hunting trophies or rugs. However, in July 2005 another skull was found in North Devon. This skull is thought to have come from a puma, though it is still to be confirmed as to whether it is genuine.

===Hair samples===
* As with paw prints, many hair samples have proved to be from other animals, but between April 2004 and August 2005 six samples were found across the country and are currently being analysed.

* In the 1990s, puma hairs were positively identified on [[Exmoor]].

===Tree damage===
*Cats often sharpen their nails on wooden objects, and trees thought to have been damaged by big cats have been discovered in Britain in [[Gloucestershire]] in 2001, [[Yorkshire]] in 2002 and Kent in 2003

== Hoaxes and misidentifications ==
A few fakes have been exposed over the years, and although most are obvious, some can go on for some time before being proven.<br />One such example is of the photo of a stuffed toy panther in Wales being taken seriously by the British tabloid press before being exposed as a publicity stunt by researchers of the national research network ''Big Cats in Britain''. The photo had initially been confirmed as genuine by the ''British Big Cat Society'' which was then obliged to reverse its verdict. The same make of toy was later used in another hoax, having been photographed using a mobile 'phone camera in Yorkshire.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}

==Misidentification==

It is sometimes claimed that with sightings of big cats people "see what they want to see" - for example people living on [[Exmoor]] may glimpse an animal, not fully focus on it, and "think" that they have seen "one of those big cats". In fact most people say that they at first assumed the animal was a dog, for example a black Labrador retriever, only to become curious - then shocked - at the progressive revelation of feline characteristics. Going on photographs of so-called black panthers it seems a surprising number of people have confused black domestic cats with the "real thing". Against this may be set the extraordinary number of sightings of ABCs at close quarters by farmers, gamekeepers, poachers and similar country people who are used to distinguishing between different species of domestic and native animals.

===Hybrid domestic cats===

New breeds of domestic cat where genes from other species have been introduced into them are sometimes bigger than ordinary domestic cats and have caused big cat scares in a number of areas. A [[Bengal cat]] (a domestic with spots containing [[leopard cat]] genes), was shot in [[Lancashire]] by a game keeper when it attacked [[pheasant]]s.

===Dogs===

When the [[Beast of Exmoor]] story first came about, many people thought it may have been a dog. This may have been the case to a certain extent, as some dogs can kill sheep and do so regularly. Generally dogs will harass the whole flock of sheep, but cats will single out a sheep and kill it with injuries to the neck. Cats will also generally eat most of the carcass, but dogs will kill for the sake of it. Cats may drag the body to a special "hiding place" or even store it in a tree. Feral dogs and dogs used for poaching make this picture more confused, and sheep that die naturally may be scavenged by [[foxes]], [[buzzard]]s, and other animals to make it look as if the sheep has been killed by a predator.

== The possible species of British big cats ==

The world's big cats comprise lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars.

'''Black panthers''' are the melanistic form of leopards and [[jaguar]]s. They are the size of big dogs with long tails which typically reach the ground and turn up again in a loop. They are the only big cats to have a black form, and thus most closely resemble the most commonly reported kind of ABC. Potential prey for them includes Roe deer, [[red deer]], [[sheep]], [[rabbit]]s, [[pheasant]]s and [[chicken]]s.

Not technically members of the 'big cat' family, but big enough to cause alarm, are pumas and lynxes:

* '''[[Eurasian lynx|Lynx]]''' were once native to Great Britain. They are hefty with large paws, brown and spotted in colour and have a very short tail. They have been reported from [[East Anglia]], [[Kent]], Wales and the Scottish Borders. Their diet includes Roe deer, rabbits, rodents and gamebirds.
* '''Cougars''' (also known as '''Pumas''', amongst many other names) are large, brown cats. No black pumas have been proved to exist in their native America or anywhere else. They are very adaptable and could easily survive in the UK. Reports have mainly come from the South West (Devon, Somerset and Cornwall), the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]] and [[Surrey]]. Their potential prey includes [[red deer]], Roe deer, sheep, rabbits, gamebirds and rodents.

* '''Caracal''' are more slender, lynx-sized cats. They originate in Africa, and are identified by their light brown coat and very pointed ears. They are very agile cats and can climb trees and jump high enough to snatch birds out of the air. They are capable of taking small deer, sheep and gamebirds. They are only occasionally reported.

Smaller exotic cats:

* [[Jungle Cat]]s are medium sized grey-brown cats with a short tail. They are only capable of taking rodents, rabbits and [[amphibians]]. Seven jungle cats have been found dead in the UK.
* '''Other Cats''': Species that have been noted only occasionally include the '''leopard cat''', which are the size of domestic cats but with leopard-like spots, a '''clouded leopard''', a specialised species from the tropics which was captured after living wild in Kent in 1975, and there are even extraordinary cases of '''lions''' being reported in Devon and Somerset.<ref>[http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/attacks/dartmoorlions.html Dartmoor Lion<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Native small cats:
* '''Wild cats''' are native to Britain, and are still present in Scotland. They prey on rabbits, [[hare]]s, rodents and birds.
* '''[[Kellas cat]]s''' are stereotyped hybrids between wild and domestic cats that have been recorded in the [[Scottish Highlands]].
[[Image:Jaguar-schwarzer-panther-zoologie.de-nk0005.JPG|thumb|250px|A melanistic jaguar, sometimes called a black panther]]

===Anomalies in colour and shape of British big cats===

While many big cat reports describe the known species as listed above, just as many do not. The attempt to shoehorn detailed witness descriptions into these standard forms often fails. Some of the theories of provenance, such as hide-out, hybridisation, shape-shifting etc. attempt to account for these disparities.

'''Lions and tigers'''.
Curiously enough lions and tigers are also occasionally reported at large in the British countryside. Ensuing police hunts have invariably proved fruitless.

== Naming the cats ==

It has become common for the press or media to "name" any cats after the immediate area to the sighting, for example the [[Beast of Exmoor]] or the [[Beast of Bodmin]]. Sometimes they are named by the area where they are sighted followed by the species, e.g. the [[Surrey Puma]] or the [[Wrangaton Lion]].

"The Beast of" followed by the location is the most common name given.

==Famous cats==

* '''[[Cath Palug]]''', Isle of Anglesey, medieval
* '''[[Beast of Exmoor]]''', Devon and Somerset, 1970s - Present [http://www.ukbigcats.co.uk/beastofexmoor.asp]
* '''[[Beast of Bodmin]]''', Cornwall, 1992 - Present [http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewarticle.php?id=37]
* '''[["Felicity" the Puma]]''', Inverness-shire, 1980 [http://www.bigcats.org/abc/sightings/1980/felicity1.html]
* '''[[Surrey Puma]]''', Surrey and Hampshire, 1959 - 1970 [http://www.meta-religion.com/Paranormale/Cryptozoology/Felines/surrey_puma.htm]
* '''[[Fen Tiger]]''', [[Cambridgeshire]], 1950s - 1990s [http://www.scottishbigcats.co.uk/fentiger.htm]
* '''[[Clouded Leopard]]''', Kent, 1975
* '''[[Wrangaton Lion]]''', Devon, 1998 - 1999 [http://www.bigcats.org/abc/attacks/dartmoorlions.html]
* '''[[Beast of Riber]]''', [[Derbyshire]] 1970s - Present
* '''[[The Beast of the Chignals]]''', Essex, 2004 - Present
* '''[[Bucks Beast]]''', Buckinghamshire, 1995<ref>Bucks Examiner 23rd June 1995</ref> - Present
* '''The Beast of Basingstoke''', a big cat sighted around Basingstoke in the early 1990s, and believed to be a lion or puma.<ref>[http://www.basingstoke.me.uk/ It's Basingstoke NOT Boringstoke<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* '''The Beast of Bevendean''', a big cat which has mauled dogs in the suburbs of [[Brighton]].<ref>[http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/generalnews/display.var.2332382.0.beast_of_bevendean_strikes_again.php Beast of Bevendean strikes again (From The Argus)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Attacks==
Claimed attacks on people by big cats are very rare, and no fatalities have been blamed on wild big cats in Britain.

One recent alleged "attack" is the story of how during January 2002 a man from [[Gravesend, Kent|Gravesend]], Kent, claimed that his hand was scratched by a Eurasian lynx after approaching it in order to rescue a pet rabbit from its jaws. His original thought was that the animal was a fox, but as he got nearer he claimed it was actually a lynx. The victim suffered a three parallel lacerations to the back of the hand. However, the wounds did not appear to be typical of a lynx attack,<ref>[http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/photoalbum/lynxattack.html Man scratched by lynx in Kent<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and lynx are not known to spontaneously attack humans.

==Government involvement==

In 1988, the Ministry of Agriculture took the unusual step of sending in [[Royal Marines]] to carry out a massive search for the rumoured Beast of Exmoor after an increase in the number of mysteriously killed livestock, and farmer complaints over subsequent loss of money. Several Marines claimed to have seen the cat fleetingly, but nothing other than a fox was ever found. The Ministry concluded that reports of the Beast were nothing more than mass hysteria.<ref>[http://www.ukbigcats.co.uk/beastofexmoor.asp www.ukbigcats.co.uk - The Definitive Guide To UK Big Cats<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

As of 2008, the [[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]] do not believe there to be any breeding pairs of predatory cats in the United Kingdom. On the confirmation that a lynx was killed in Norfolk in 1991, a Defra spokesperson said that "Defra are not denying that there are big cats out there, and say that they have certainly found no evidence of any big cats breeding in the UK".{{Fact|date=February 2008}}

Defra has published a list of predatory cats that they know to have escaped in the United Kingdom, although most of these have been recaptured.<ref>http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/reports/exotic-cat-escapes.pdf</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Phantom cat]]
*[[Shields Up]]
* [[Cryptozoology]]
*[[Security Now!]]
*[[SpinRite]]


==Further reading==
==References==
{{reflist}}
* ''BCIB Yearbook 2007'', Ed. Mark Fraser, CFZ 2008
* Beer, Trevor ''The Beast of Exmoor: Fact or legend?'' Countryside Productions 1988
* Brierly, Nigel ''They stalk by night - the big cats of Exmoor and the South West'' Yeo Valley Productions 1988
* Francis, Di ''The Beast of Exmoor and other mystery predators of Britain'' Johnathan Cape 1993
* Francis, Di ''Cat Country'' David and Charles 1982
* Harpur, Merrily ''Mystery Big Cats'' Heart of Albion 2006
* Moiser, Chris ''Mystery Cats of Devon and Cornwall'' Bossiney Books 2002
* Moiser, Chris ''Big Cat Mysteries of Somerset'' Bossiney Books 2005
* Moiser, Chris '' Mystery Big Cats of Dorset'' Inspiring Places 2007
* [[Karl Shuker|Shuker, Karl]] ''Mystery Cats of the World: From Blue Tigers to Exmoor Beasts'' Robert Hale 1989


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.britishbigcats.org/ Big Cats in Britain]
*[http://www.grc.com/ GRC.com] - main page
*[http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm Security Now!] - Steve Gibson and [[Leo Laporte]]'s podcast on computer security
* [http://www.cfz.org.uk/ The Centre for Fortean Zoology]
* [http://www.iolfree.ie/~dorsetbigcats/ Dorset Big Cats]
* [http://scotcats.online.fr/abc/index.html Scottish Big Cat Trust]
* [http://www.britishbigcats.org/identification.php BBCS Big Cat Identification]
* [http://www.kentbigcats.blogspot.com/ KENT BIG CAT RESEARCH]
* [http://www.ukbigcats.co.uk/ UK Big Cats]
* [http://scotcats.online.fr/ncj/index.html Nomad Cat's Journal]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2008/01/31/possible_big_cat_kill_feature.shtml BBC Gloucestershire: Big Cat Photographic Evidence]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4370893.stm BBC News Release]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/622452.stm BBC News Release]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4671402.stm BBC News Release]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2632691.stm BBC News Release]
* [http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/display.var.1521082.0.couple_spot_pumalike_animal.php Bucks Free Press news]
* [http://www.newanimal.org/abcs.htm The Cryptid Zoo: Alien Big Cats]
* [http://www.five.tv/bigcatsearch Five's Big Cat Search]
* [http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/167_bigcats2002.shtml Fortean Times]

==References==
<references/>

{{Cryptozoology}}


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[[Category:Carnivorous cryptids]]
[[Category:Fictional cats]]
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Computer programmers]]
[[Category:American Internet personalities]]
[[Category:People from Orange County, California]]


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Revision as of 05:43, 13 October 2008

For other people named Steve Gibson, see Steve Gibson (disambiguation).
Steve Gibson
Steve in between shots on Leo Laporte's Call For Help in Toronto April, 2007.
BornMarch 1955
Dayton, Ohio, United States
Nationality U.S. American
EducationEECS at UC Berkeley
Occupation(s)Software Engineer and
Security Analyst
Known forSecurity Now! audio podcast on TWiT.tv (network)
TitleComputer Programmer
WebsiteGRC.com

Steve Gibson (born March 1955, Dayton Ohio) is a computer enthusiast, software engineer and security researcher who studied EECS at the UC Berkeley. Gibson is also an LGBT advocate who currently lives with his partner in Laguna Hills, California.[citation needed] In 1985, Gibson founded Gibson Research Corporation, which is most well known for it's SpinRite software.

Works

Gibson has had a very long career in the technology field - his resume lists jobs he has held back to the age of 13 [1]. He began in hardware projects but moved more towards software development in the 1980s. One of his early successes during this period was a light pen graphics system for the Apple II.

Gibson is an advocate of assembly language programming, and prides himself on writing smaller applications mostly in Intel x86 assembly language, including much of the code of the SpinRite hard disk utility used at the beginning of the PC era. 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 (Data Execution Prevention) 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[2]. 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.

As of mid 2008 GRC had three employees, including Gibson. Gibson also founded Gibson Laboratories, Inc. in 1981, a predecessor to GRC[1].

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 weekly 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 used to occasionally appear 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.

Controversy

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.[3]

Notable examples of criticism include:

  • Is known to have worked closely with John McAfee on the marketing of the ZoneAlarm firewall and to have begun his ShieldsUp! application at McAfee's behest. This collaboration extended through the followup "leak test" when McAfee began tooling ZoneAlarm with egress control. Gibson also hosted extensive forums for McAfee's ZoneAlarm, all the while claiming he wasn't selling anything (and incurring the ridicule of the mainstream media). His techniques were cited as reminiscent of what McAfee and he had done a generation earlier with the antivirus industry.[4]
  • Claimed to have "independently invented" SYN cookies, a SYN flood denial of service avoidance technique invented by Daniel J. Bernstein.[5] SYN cookies have been supported in Linux since 1997. SYN cookies are widely known among programmers involved in the field [citation needed]. Steve states that he was previously unaware of Daniel's technique until it was pointed out to him in a forum posting. After exchanging emails with him to confirm, he now attributes Daniel as the "principal originator" of the idea several years before him. [6]
  • 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".[7] No such "weapons" have surfaced. Fyodor, the author of the Nmap Security Scanner, stated that Gibson's "'findings' are not new, are always filled with massive hyperbole, and are frequently completely false".[8] Microsoft limited raw socket support in Windows XP Service Pack 2 in favor of their own interface, NetMon, a move described by some as "crippling". It is believed that Microsoft's decision was influenced by criticism from Steve Gibson, among others. On episode #155 of the Security Now podcast, Steve states that because Windows XP SP2 and later does not have raw-socket support, the danger from a DNS vulnerability announced in August 2008 was mitigated. "Windows-based bot fleets" taking advantage of the vulnerability by spoofing UDP packets were not possible, because Windows XP is not able to build it's "own UDP packet and put any source IP in it"[9]. The attacks could only be launched from a raw-sockets-enabled OS, which limits XP's potential danger to the internet if the system was commandeered for malicious purposes.[10]
  • Claimed that the Windows Metafile vulnerability was intentionally engineered into Windows by somebody at Microsoft as a backdoor for their use.[11] He maintains that the backdoor was intentional, though not necessarily officially mandated by Microsoft (e.g. a rogue employee may have put it in). Gibson also suggested in episode 22 of his Security Now podcast that Microsoft's reason for patching the vulnerability was due to an "industrious hacker" finding out about it and using it.[12] No evidence has been presented by any other researcher suggesting that the WMF vulnerability was a backdoor. Microsoft denies the allegations[13].
  • Claims to have coined the term spyware. In many Security Now! episodes he is introduced by co-host Leo Laporte as "the man who discovered spyware, coined the term, wrote the first anti-spyware program"[14] Although he was the first to use the term to describe advertising software, the word "spyware" has been around since 1995[15], when it was used in a joke about Microsoft's networking stack.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b http://www.grc.com/resume.htm
  2. ^ Gibson Research Corporation, Techadvice.com. Retrieved on 2 February 2007.
  3. ^ P.J. Connolly. "Another hole in XP". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
  4. ^ Radsoft. "13 Sep 1999 15:49:00 - Steve Gibson begins work on Shields Up". Radsoft. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  5. ^ D. J. Bernstein. "SYN cookies". D. J. Bernstein. Retrieved 2006-06-25.
  6. ^ http://www.grc.com/r&d/nomoredos.htm
  7. ^ Steve Gibson (2005-09-17). "The Strange Tale of the Denial of Service Attacks on GRC.com". Gibson Research Corporation. Retrieved 2006-06-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Fyodor. "Nmap Hackers: Re: Steve Gibson vs. Microsoft". Nmap Hackers. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
  9. ^ http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-155.txt
  10. ^ http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-008.txt
  11. ^ Steve Gibson (2006-01-12). "grc.news.feedback". Gibson Research Corporation. Retrieved 2007-11-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) "The only conclusion that can reasonably be drawn is that this was a deliberate backdoor put into all of Microsoft's recent editions of Windows."
  12. ^ Steve Gibson (2006-01-13). "Security Now! Episode 22 "The Windows MetaFile Backdoor?" transcript". Gibson Research Corporation. Retrieved 2006-06-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177100970
  14. ^ "Security Now! episode 142". Twit. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  15. ^ Vossen, Roland (attributed); October 21, 1995; Win 95 Source code in c!! posted to rec.games.programmer; retrieved from groups.google.com November 28, 2006.

External links

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