1980 - Mark Andreesen turns 8. 14 more years till he revolutionises the Web
1981 - ARPANET has 213 hosts. A new host is added approximately once every 20 days.
1982 - The term 'Internet' is used for the first time.
1982
- 1987
Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf are key members of a team which creates
TCP/IP, the common language of all Internet computers. For the
first time the loose collection of networks which made up the
ARPANET is seen as an "internet", and the Internet as
we know it today is born.
The mid-80s marks a boom in the personal computer and super-minicomputer industries. The combination of inexpensive desktop machines and powerful, network-ready servers allows many companies to join the Internet for the first time. Corporations begin to use the Internet to communicate with each other and with their customers.
1983 - TCP/IP becomes the universal language of the Internet
1984 - William Gibson coins the term "cyberspace" in his novel "Neuromancer." The number of Internet hosts exceeds 1,000.
1985 - Internet e-mail and newsgroups now part of life at many universities
1986 - Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio creates the first "Freenet" for the Society for Public Access Computing.
1987 - The number of Internet hosts exceeds 10,000.
1988 - Internet worm (virus) unleashed.
By 1988 the Internet is an essential tool for communications, however it also begins to create concerns about privacy and security in the digital world. New words, such as "hacker," "cracker" and" electronic break-in", are created.
These new worries are dramatically demonstrated on Nov. 1, 1988 when a malicious program called the "Internet Worm" temporarily disables approximately 6,000 of the 60,000 Internet hosts.
1988 - The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is formed to address security concerns raised by the Worm.
1989 - System administrator turned author, Clifford Stoll, catches a group of Cyberspies, and writes the best-seller "The Cuckoo's Egg." The number of Internet hosts exceeds 100,000.