Historical Notes
There are conflicting stories about the origin of this term. Fans of MIT's Incompatible Timesharing System (ITS) say it was coined in opposition to Multics users down the hall, for whom security was far more an issue than on ITS. Within the ITS culture the term referred, self-mockingly, to the poor coverage of the documentation and obscurity of many commands, and to the attitude that by the time a tourist figured out how to make trouble he'd generally got over the urge to make it, because he felt part of the community.
One instance of deliberate security through obscurity on ITS has been noted: the command to allow patching the running ITS system (altmode altmode control-R) echoed as ##^D. Typing Alt Alt Control-D set a flag that would prevent patching the system even if the user later got it right.
Read more about this topic: Security Through Obscurity
Famous quotes containing the words historical and/or notes:
“Yet the companions of the Muses
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And weary with historical data, they will turn to my dance tune.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
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Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony;”
—John Milton (1608–1674)