Pope Kaminsky, Pontiff of the 2000s

Encyclical

"Decennium Vermium". It was the decade of worms, from Code Red to Slammer, from Blaster to Conficker, which forced the industry to invent Trustworthy Computing, Patch Tuesday and firewalls on by default. The Kaminsky bug is its pope because it showed the decade grown up: a flaw in a protocol everyone shared, fixed by everyone on the same day thanks to coordinated disclosure. Its legacy is the idea that internet security is a common good. Dan Kaminsky passed away in 2021, and the almanac remembers him with gratitude.

Saint page: Saint Kaminsky bug

Cardinals

MS08-067 (Conficker)