Dan Farmer (born April 5, 1962) is an American

computer security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and computer network, n ...

researcher and

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

who was a pioneer in the development of

vulnerability scanner A vulnerability scanner is a computer program designed to assess computers, networks or applications for known weaknesses. These scanners are used to discover the weaknesses of a given system. They are used in the identification and detection ...

s for

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s and

computer network A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...

Life and career

Farmer developed his first

software suite A software suite (also known as an application suite) is a collection of computer programs (application software, or programming software) of related functionality, sharing a similar user interface and the ability to easily exchange data with eac ...

while he was a

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

student at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

in 1989. Gene Spafford, one of his professors, helped him to start the project. The software, called the Computer Oracle and Password System (COPS), comprises several small, specialized

s designed to identify security weaknesses in one part of a Unix operating system. In 1995, Farmer and Wietse Venema (a Dutch programmer and physicist) developed a second vulnerability scanner called the

Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks (SATAN) was a free software vulnerability scanner for analyzing networked computers. SATAN captured the attention of a broad technical audience, appearing in ''PC Magazine'' and drawing threats ...

(SATAN). Due to a misunderstanding of SATAN's capabilities, when it was first published, some

network administrator A network administrator is a person designated in an organization whose responsibility includes maintaining computer infrastructures with emphasis on local area networks (LANs) up to wide area networks (WANs). Responsibilities may vary between or ...

s and law enforcement personnel believed that

hackers A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who achieves goals and solves problems by non-standard means. The term has become associated in popular culture with a security hackersomeone with knowledge of bugs or exploits to break ...

would use it to identify and break into vulnerable computers. Consequently, SGI terminated Farmer's employment. However, contrary to popular opinion, SATAN did not function as an automatic hacking program that undermined network security. Rather, it operated as an audit on network security that identified vulnerabilities and made suggestions to help prevent them. No information about how security vulnerabilities could be exploited was provided by the tool. Within a few years, the use of

s such as SATAN became an accepted method for auditing computer and network security. He co-developed the Titan vulnerability scanner with Brad Powell and Matt Archibald, which they presented at the

Large Installation System Administration Conference Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (o ...

(LISA) in 1998. Farmer and Venema collaborated again to develop a

computer forensics Computer forensics (also known as computer forensic science) is a branch of digital forensics, digital forensic science pertaining to evidence found in computers and digital storage media. The goal of computer forensics is to examine digital me ...

suite called The Coroner's Toolkit, and later coauthored ''Forensic Discovery'' (2005), a book about computer forensics.''Forensic Discovery'',

Addison-Wesley Professional Addison–Wesley is an American publisher of textbooks and computer literature. It is an imprint of Pearson plc, a global publishing and education company. In addition to publishing books, Addison–Wesley also distributes its technical titles ...

. . Farmer co-founded Elemental Security with Dayne Myers, and served as the corporation's chief technical officer.

References

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Hackers
episode of NetCafe containing an interview with Dan Farmer {{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer, Dan 1962 births Living people Purdue University alumni Computer security specialists Chief technology officers of computer security companies American chief technology officers Computer science writers Silicon Graphics people