In March of 2001, the Lion worm set in motion a series of events that resulted in the creation of the SANS Internet Storm Center.  That was five years ago in an era when script kiddies were defacing web sites and launching endless DDoS attacks against each other.  Worms were a pretty big deal, and bots were just getting started.  Credit card theft was already happening, but "identity theft" had not become the big buzzword that it is today.  That was also pre-September 11th and we had no idea what was in store for the planet later that year. 

So on this anniversary of the Storm Center, I'd like to thank all of our volunteer incident handlers from over the years for their many hours of dedicated time, as well as extend a note of appreciation to the thousands of DShield sensor operators, the people who read our daily diaries, and those who participate in the various discussion forums.  I'd like to also thank Johannes Ullrich for his tireless efforts to keep the electrons flowing behind the scenes, and the SANS Institute for paying the bills.

Since we all like to have contests, here's one that should be fun to do.  Look back through your old email to the period around March or April of 2001 and see if you can find any notes that reference the SANS Internet Storm Center.  If you can, forward them to us via the contact page above and we'll figure out who has the earliest one.  We'll mention your name in a future diary if you want us to, or you can remain anonymous.

Happy hunting, and Happy Birthday Internet Storm Center!

Marcus H. Sachs
Director, SANS ISC