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Website Defacement Monitoring And Recovery System: Comprehensive Web-Sourced Technical Investigation Exhaustive Research Dossier · Pure Web-Scraped Content: ~9101 Words · Real Software Screenshots: 3 1. Executive Overview & Technical Background Cyberterrorism is the use of the Internet to conduct violent acts that result in, or threaten, the loss of life or significant bodily harm, in order to achieve political or ideological gains through threat or intimidation. Emerging alongside the development of information technology, cyberterrorism involves acts of deliberate, large-scale disruption of computer networks, especially of personal computers attached to the Internet by means of tools such as computer viruses, computer worms, phishing, malicious software, hardware methods, and programming scripts can all be forms of internet terrorism. Some authors opt for a very narrow definition of cyberterrorism, relating to deployment by known terrorist organizations of disruption attacks against information systems for the primary purpose of creating alarm, panic, or physical disruption. Other authors prefer a broader definition, which includes cybercrime. Participating in a cyberattack affects the terror threat perception, even if it isn't done with a violent approach. By some definitions, it might be difficult to distinguish which instances of online activities are cyberterrorism or cybercrime. Cyberterrorism can be also defined as the intentional use of computers, networks, and public internet to cause destruction and harm for personal objectives. Experienced cyberterrorists, who are very skilled in terms of hacking can cause massive damage to government systems and might leave a country in fear of further attacks. The objectives of such terrorists may be political or ideological since this can be considered a form of terror. There is much concern from government and media sources about potential damage that could be caused by cyberterrorism, and this has prompted efforts by government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Security Agency (NSA), and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to put an end to cyber attacks and cyberterrorism. There have been several major and minor instances of cyberterrorism. Al-Qaeda utilized the internet to communicate with supporters and even to recruit new members. Estonia, a Baltic country which is constantly evolving in terms of technology, became a battleground for cyberterrorism in April 2007 after disputes regarding the relocation of a WWII soviet statue located in Estonia's capital Tallinn.

There is debate over the basic definition of the scope of cyberterrorism. These definitions can be narrow such as the use of Internet to attack other systems in the Internet that result to violence against persons or property. They can also be broad, those that include any form of Internet usage by terrorists to conventional attacks on information technology infrastructures. There is variation in qualification by motivation, targets, methods, and centrality of computer use in the act. U.S. government agencies also use varying definitions and that none of these have so far attempted to introduce a standard that is binding outside of their sphere of influence. Depending on context, cyberterrorism may overlap considerably with cybercrime, cyberwar or ordinary terrorism. Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Kaspersky Lab, now feels that "cyberterrorism" is a more accurate term than "cyberwar". He states that "with today's attacks, you are clueless about who did it or when they will strike again. It's not cyber-war, but cyberterrorism." He also equates large-scale cyber weapons, such as the Flame Virus and NetTraveler Virus which his company discovered, to biological weapons, claiming that in an interconnected world, they have the potential to be equally destructive. If cyberterrorism is treated similarly to traditional terrorism, then it only includes attacks that threaten property or lives, and can be defined as the leveraging of a target's computers and information, particularly via the Internet, to cause physical, real-world harm or severe disruption of infrastructure. Many academics and researchers who specialize in terrorism studies suggest that cyberterrorism does not exist and is really a matter of hacking or information warfare. They disagree with labeling it as terrorism because of the unlikelihood of the creation of fear, significant physical harm, or death in a population using electronic means, considering current attack and protective technologies. If death or physical damage that could cause human harm is considered a necessary part of the cyberterrorism definition, then there have been few identifiable incidents of cyberterrorism, although there has been much policy research and public concern.

Modern terrorism and political violence is not easily defined, however, and some scholars assert that it is now "unbounded" and not exclusively concerned with physical damage. There is an old saying that death or loss of property are the side products of terrorism, the main purpose of such incidents is to create terror in peoples' minds and harm bystanders. If any incident in cyberspace can create terror, it may be rightly called cyberterrorism. For those affected by such acts, the fears of cyberterrorism are quite real. As with cybercrime in general, the threshold of required knowledge and skills to perpetrate acts of cyberterrorism has been steadily diminishing thanks to freely available hacking suites and online courses. Additionally, the physical and virtual worlds are merging at an accelerated rate, making for many more targets of opportunity which is evidenced by such notable cyber attacks as Stuxnet, the Saudi petrochemical sabotage attempt in 2018 and others.

is motivated by a political, religious or ideological cause is intended to intimidate a government or a section of the public to varying degrees seriously interferes with infrastructure The term "cyberterrorism" can be used in a variety of different ways, but there are limits to its use. An attack on an Internet business can be labeled cyberterrorism, however when it is done for economic motivations rather than ideological it is typically regarded as cybercrime. Convention also limits the label "cyberterrorism" to actions by individuals, independent groups, or organizations. Any form of cyberwarfare conducted by governments and states would be regulated and punishable under international law.

The Technolytics Institute defines cyberterrorism as [t]he premeditated use of disruptive activities, or the threat thereof, against computers and/or networks, with the intention to cause harm or further social, ideological, religious, political or similar objectives. Or to intimidate any person in furtherance of such objectives. The term appears first in defense literature, surfacing (as "cyber-terrorism") in reports by the U.S. Army War College as early as 1998. The National Conference of State Legislatures, an organization of legislators created to help policymakers in the United States with issues such as economy and homeland security defines cyberterrorism as: Figure 1: Performance Metrics of Website Defacement Monitor | Online Help Site24x7 [T]he use of information technology by terrorist groups and individuals to further their agenda. This can include use of information technology to organize and execute attacks against networks, computer systems and telecommunications infrastructures, or for exchanging information or making threats electronically. Examples are hacking into computer systems, introducing viruses to vulnerable networks, web site defacing, Denial-of-service attacks, or terroristic threats made via electronic communication.

[T]he illegal threat and the attack against computers, networks, and information stored, where it is carried out to frighten and force the government or its people to achieve political or social objectives. 2. System Architecture & Core Working Principles NATO defines cyberterrorism as "[a] cyberattack using or exploiting computer or communication networks to cause sufficient destruction or disruption to generate fear or to intimidate a society into an ideological goal".

The United States National Infrastructure Protection Center defined cyberterrorism as: A criminal act perpetrated by the use of computers and telecommunications capabilities resulting in violence, destruction, and/or disruption of services to create fear by causing confusion and uncertainty within a given population, with the goal of influencing a government or population to conform to a political, social, or ideological agenda.

The FBI, another United States agency, defines "cyber terrorism" as "premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer systems, computer programs, and data which results in violence against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents". These definitions tend to share the view of cyberterrorism as politically and/or ideologically inclined. One area of debate is the difference between cyberterrorism and hacktivism. Hacktivism is "the marriage of hacking with political activism". Both actions are politically driven and involve using computers, however cyberterrorism is primarily used to cause harm. It becomes an issue because acts of violence on the computer can be labeled either cyberterrorism or hacktivism.

Simple-Unstructured: the capability to conduct basic hacks against individual systems using tools created by someone else. The organization possesses little target-analysis, command-and-control, or learning capability. Advanced-Structured: the capability to conduct more sophisticated attacks against multiple systems or networks and possibly, to modify or create basic hacking-tools. The organization possesses an elementary target-analysis, command-and-control, and learning capability.

Complex-Coordinated: the capability for a coordinated attack capable of causing mass-disruption against integrated, heterogeneous defenses (including cryptography). Ability to create sophisticated hacking tools. Highly capable target-analysis, command-and-control, and organization learning-capability. Figure 2: PPT - Monitor your Website Defacement Attacks with ESDS VTMScan Content ...

In an article about cyber attacks by Iran and North Korea, The New York Times observes: The appeal of digital weapons is similar to that of nuclear capability: it is a way for an outgunned, outfinanced nation to even the playing field. "These countries are pursuing cyberweapons the same way they are pursuing nuclear weapons," said James A. Lewis, a computer security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "It's primitive; it's not top of the line, but it's good enough and they are committed to getting it." In addition, Cyberterrorism has also been documented to arouse negative emotions. Recent studies have suggested that Cyberterrorism produces heightened levels of anger and stress, which do not differ drastically from the effects of conventional terrorism. Researchers also noted that Cyberterrorism produced higher levels of stress than anger, and the responses are not dependent on the lethality of the attack.

3. Software Implementation, Frameworks & Protocols 1963: Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft 1970: Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft 1971: Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation 1973: Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons 1979: International Convention against the Taking of Hostages 1980: Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material 1988: Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation 1988: Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf 1988: Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation 1989: Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation 1991: Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection 1997: International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings 1999: International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism 2005: Protocol to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation 2005: International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism 2010: Protocol Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft 2010: Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Aviation 2014: Protocol to Amend the Convention on Offences and Certain Acts Committed on Board Aircraft Political goals Competition between companies Cyberwarfare between two countries Money Political goals motivate cyber-attackers because they are not happy with candidates and they might want certain candidates to win the election, therefore, they might alter the election voting to help their preferred candidate win. Competition between two companies can also stir up a cyberattack, as one company can hire a hacker to conduct the attack on a company as they might want to test the rival company's security. This will also benefit a company because it will force their competitor's customers to think that the company is not secure due to them getting cyber attacked effortlessly and they don't want any of their personal credentials getting leaked. Cyberwarfare is motivation for countries that are fighting each other. This is mainly used to weaken the opposing country by compromising its core systems and the countries data and other vulnerable information. Money is motivating for cyber attacks for ransomware, phishing, and data theft as the cyber criminals can differently contact the victims and ask for money and in return the data stays safe.

The Baltic state of Estonia was the target of a massive denial-of-service attack that ultimately rendered the country offline and shut out from services dependent on Internet connectivity in April 2007. The infrastructure of Estonia including everything from online banking and mobile phone networks to government services and access to health care information was disabled for a time. The tech-dependent state experienced severe turmoil and there was a great deal of concern over the nature and intent of the attack. The cyber attack was a result of an Estonian-Russian dispute over the removal of a bronze statue depicting a World War II-era Soviet soldier from the center of the capital, Tallinn. In the midst of the armed conflict with Russia, Georgia likewise was subject to sustained and coordinated attacks on its electronic infrastructure in August 2008. In both of these cases, circumstantial evidence point to coordinated Russian attacks, but attribution of the attacks is difficult; though both the countries blame Moscow for contributing to the cyber attacks, proof establishing legal culpability is lacking. Estonia joined NATO in 2004, which prompted NATO to carefully monitor its member states' response to the attack. NATO also feared escalation and the possibility of cascading effects beyond Estonia's border to other NATO members. In 2008, directly as a result of the attacks, NATO opened a new center of excellence on cyberdefense to conduct research and training on cyber warfare in Tallinn. The chaos resulting from the attacks in Estonia illustrated to the world the dependence countries had on information technology. This dependence then makes countries vulnerable to future cyber attacks and terrorism. Quick information on the cyber attack on Estonia and its effects on the country.

Online services of Estoninan banks and government services were taken down by uncontrollable high level of internet traffic Media outlets were also down and so broadcasters could not deliver the news of the cyber attacks Some of the services were under attack for 22 days, while other online services were taken down completely Riots and Looting went on for 48 hours in Tallinn, Estonia The cyber attack served as a wake up call to Estonia and for the entire world on the importance of cyber defence. As cyberattacks continue to increase around the world, countries still look at the attacks on Estonia in the 2007 as an example of how countries can fight future cyberattacks and terrorism. As a result of the attacks, Estonia is now currently one of the top countries in cyber defence and online safety and its capital city of Tallinn is home to NATO's cyber defense hub.

The government of Estonia continues to update there cyber defence protocols and national cybersecurity strategies. NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre in Tallinn also conducts research and training on cyber security to not just help Estonia but other countries that are in the alliance. Figure 3: 6 Best Website Change Monitoring Software Tools for 2024 In 1996, a computer hacker allegedly associated with the White Supremacist movement temporarily disabled a Massachusetts ISP and damaged part of the ISP's record keeping system. The ISP had attempted to stop the hacker from sending out worldwide racist messages under the ISP's name. The hacker signed off with the threat: "you have yet to see true electronic terrorism. This is a promise." In 1998, Spanish protesters bombarded the Institute for Global Communications (IGC) with thousands of bogus e-mail messages. E-mail was tied up and undeliverable to the ISP's users, and support lines were tied up with people who couldn't get their mail. The protestors also spammed IGC staff and member accounts, clogged their Web page with bogus credit card orders, and threatened to employ the same tactics against organizations using IGC services.

They demanded that IGC stop hosting the Web site for the Euskal Herria Journal, a New York-based publication supporting Basque independence. Protestors said IGC supported terrorism because a section on the Web pages contained materials on the terrorist group ETA, which claimed responsibility for assassinations of Spanish political and security officials, and attacks on military installations. IGC finally relented and pulled the site because of the "mail bombings". In 1998, ethnic Tamil guerrillas attempted to disrupt Sri Lankan embassies by sending large volumes of e-mail. The embassies received 800 e-mails a day over a two-week period. The messages read "We are the Internet Black Tigers and we're doing this to disrupt your communications." Intelligence authorities characterized it as the first known attack by terrorists against a country's computer systems. During the Kosovo conflict in 1999, NATO computers were blasted with e-mail bombs and hit with denial-of-service attacks by hacktivists protesting the NATO bombings. In addition, businesses, public organizations and academic institutes received highly politicized virus-laden e-mails from a range of Eastern European countries, according to reports. Web defacements were also common. After the Chinese Embassy was accidentally bombed in Belgrade, Chinese hacktivists posted messages such as "We won't stop attacking until the war stops!" on U.S. government Web sites. Since December 1997, the Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT) has been conducting Web sit-ins against various sites in support of the Mexican Zapatistas. At a designated time, thousands of protestors point their browsers to a target site using software that floods the target with rapid and repeated download requests. EDT's software has also been used by animal rights groups against organizations said to abuse animals. Electrohippies, another group of hacktivists, conducted Web sit-ins against the WTO when they met in Seattle in late 1999. These sit-ins all require mass participation to have much effect, and thus are more suited to use by activists than by terrorists. In 2000, a Japanese investigation revealed that the government was using software developed by computer companies affiliated with Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday sect responsible for the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995. "The government found 100 types of software programs used by at least 10 Japanese government agencies, including the Defense Ministry, and more than 80 major Japanese companies, including Nippon Telegraph and Telephone." Following the discovery, the Japanese government suspended use of Aum-developed programs out of concern that Aum-related companies may have compromised security by breaching firewalls. gaining access to sensitive systems or information, allowing invasion by outsiders, planting viruses that could be set off later, or planting malicious code that could cripple computer systems and key data system. In March 2013, The New York Times reported on a pattern of cyber attacks against U.S. financial institutions believed to be instigated by Iran as well as incidents affecting South Korean financial institutions that originate with the North Korean government. In August 2013, media companies including The New York Times, Twitter and the Huffington Post lost control of some of their websites after hackers supporting the Syrian government breached the Australian Internet company that manages many major site addresses. The Syrian Electronic Army, a hacker group that has previously attacked media organisations that it considers hostile to the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, claimed credit for the Twitter and Huffington Post hacks in a series of Twitter messages. Electronic records showed that NYTimes.com, the only site with an hours-long outage, redirected visitors to a server controlled by the Syrian group before it went dark. Pakistani Cyber Army is the name taken by a group of hackers who are known for their defacement of websites, particularly Indian, Chinese, and Israeli companies and governmental organizations, claiming to represent Pakistani nationalist and Islamic interests. The group is thought to have been active since at least 2008, and maintains an active presence on social media, especially Facebook. Its members have claimed responsibility for the hijacking of websites belonging to Acer, BSNL, India's CBI, Central Bank, and the State Government of Kerala. British hacker Kane Gamble, sentenced to 2 years in youth detention, posed as CIA chief to access highly sensitive information. He also "cyber-terrorized" high-profile U.S. intelligence officials such as then CIA chief John Brennan or Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

The judge said Gamble engaged in "politically motivated cyber terrorism". In March 2021 hackers affiliated with Russia were reported to have targeted Lithuanian Officials and decision makers. The cyber-espionage group APT29 which is believed to have carried out the attacks utilized the country's own IT infrastructure against organizations involved in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. On 7 May 2021, the Colonial Pipeline was hit with a cyberattack that disrupted oil distribution. The Colonial Pipeline is a pipeline that controls almost half (45%) of the oil that runs through the East Coast of the United States.

This attack caused the company to turn off the pipeline, which it had never done before. Thus, many people panicked buying gasoline at gas stations, and the government thought this attack would quickly spread. Ultimately, the Colonial Pipeline paid nearly an amount of 5 million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency. Even though the Colonial paid all the money, the system did not turn on as rapidly as it used to. The hacker accused of this attack is a group called DarkSide. The money that the Colonial paid went to DarkSide, but there are other entities involved as well. For now, DarkSide has decided to discontinue its operations. On 30 May 2021, JBS was exposed to a cyberattack of ransomware which delayed the plant's meat production.

JBS is the world's largest meat producer that provides meat-related products for people. This attack caused the shutdown of all nine beef factories in the United States and disrupted poultry and pork production. In addition, labor had to be cut due to the closings of the factories, and the cost of meat increased due to no meat being produced. Ultimately, JBS had to pay 11 million dollars' worth of cryptocurrency to regain control. A group called REvil was responsible for the attack. REvil is a group based in the country of Russia that is also one of the most productive ransomware organizations. In the summer of 2021, crimes committed in Cyprus, Israel and Lithuania were classified by experts as Internet terrorism. Anonymous persons informed law enforcement authorities through the internet about mined business centers and office buildings. Main target was the gambling company Affise. According to Ambassador John R. Bolton, these occurrences are vivid examples of Internet terrorism. Amb. Bolton believes that they are consequences of financial conflict stirred among the owners of Affise, PlayCash and "CyberEye-25" group. According to the expert, all three companies gain illicit income associated with criminal activities on the Internet. In early December 2021 it was reported least nine U.S State Department had their phones hacked by an unknown attacker. All nine employees had Apple iPhones. The hack, which took place over several months, was done through the use of iMessages that had a software attached that when sent, without needing to be interacted with, installed spyware known as Pegasus. The software used was developed and sold by an Israel-based spyware development company named NSO Group. In December 2021 at least five US defense and tech firms have been hacked by a group operating from China. The group took advantage of an exploit used in these organization's software to conduct their campaign which came to light in upcoming months. The target of these breaches were passwords as well as having the goal of intercepting private communications. As of right now the extent of the damage is unclear as the breaches are ongoing. As a response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Anonymous performed many attacks against computer systems in Russia. Most notably, Anonymous committed a cyberattack against Roskomnadzor in March 2022.

The Japanese cyberpunk manga, Ghost in the Shell (as well as its popular movie and TV adaptations) centers around an anti-cyberterrorism and cybercrime unit. In its mid-21st century Japan setting such attacks are made all the more threatening by an even more widespread use of technology including cybernetic enhancements to the human body allowing people themselves to be direct targets of cyberterrorist attacks. In the movie Live Free or Die Hard, John McClane (Bruce Willis) takes on a group of cyberterrorists intent on shutting down the entire computer network of the United States. The movie Eagle Eye involves a super computer controlling everything electrical and networked to accomplish the goal. The plots of 24 Day 4 and Day 7 include plans to breach the nation's nuclear plant grid and then to seize control of the entire critical infrastructure protocol. The Tom Clancy created series Netforce was about an FBI/Military team dedicated to combating cyberterrorists.

Much of the plot of Mega Man Battle Network is centered around cyberterrorism. In the 2009 Japanese animated film Summer Wars, an artificial intelligence cyber-terrorist attempts to take control over the world's missiles in order to "win" against the main characters that attempted to keep it from manipulating the world's electronic devices. In the 2012 film Skyfall, part of the James Bond franchise, main villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is an expert cyberterrorist who is responsible for various cyberterrorist incidents in the past. Cyberterrorism plays a role in the 2012 video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II, first when main antagonist Raul Menendez cripples the Chinese economy with a cyberattack and frames the United States for it, starting a new Cold War between the two powers. Later, another cyberattack with a computer worm leads to Menendez seizing control of the entire U.S drone fleet. Finally, one of the game's endings leads to another attack similar to the latter, this time crippling the U.S' electrical and water distribution grids. An alternate ending depicts the cyberattack failing after it is stopped by one of the game's characters pivotal to the storyline. The plot of the 2014 video game Watch Dogs is heavily influenced by cyber-terrorism. In which players take control of the game's protagonist, Aiden Pierce, an accused murder suspect, who hacks into a ctOS (Central Operating System), giving him complete control of Chicago's mainframe in order to hunt down his accusers. In the television series Mr. Robot, the main plot line follows groups of hackers who engage in cyber terrorism as well as other events.

4. Practical Deployment, Analysis & Case Studies Hoffman, Bruce: Inside Terrorism, Columbia University Press, New York, 2006 Laqueur, Walter: The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction, Oxford University Press, New York, 1999 Sageman, Marc: Understanding Terror Networks, Penn, Philadelphia, 2004 Wilkinson, Paul: Terrorism Versus Democracy, Routledge, London, 2006 The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( HEW-lit PAK-Ird) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California. Growing to become an influential high-tech powerhouse at the heart of Silicon Valley, the company was known for its progressive business philosophy, deemed the HP Way. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components, as well as software and related services, to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and fairly large companies, including customers in government sectors. At its peak in 2011, HP employed 350,000 people around the globe. The company officially split into Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. in 2015. HP initially produced a line of electronic test and measurement equipment. It won its first big contract in 1938 to provide the HP 200B, a variation of its first product, the HP 200A low-distortion frequency oscillator, for Walt Disney's production of the 1940 animated film Fantasia, which allowed Hewlett and Packard to formally establish the Hewlett-Packard Company on July 2, 1939. The company grew into a multinational corporation widely respected for its products. HP was the world's leading PC manufacturer from 2007 until the second quarter of 2013 when Lenovo moved ahead of HP. HP specialized in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, and networking hardware, designing software, and delivering services. Major product lines included personal computing devices, enterprise and industry standard servers, related storage devices, networking products, software, and a range of printers and other imaging products. The company directly marketed its products to households, small- to medium-sized businesses, and enterprises, as well as via online distribution, consumer-electronics, and office-supply retailers, software partners, and major technology vendors. It also offered services and a consulting business for its products and partner products. In 1999, HP spun off its electronic and bio-analytical test and measurement instruments business into Agilent Technologies; HP retained focus on its later products, including computers and printers. It merged with Compaq in 2002 in what was then a major deal within the industry. They made numerous other acquisitions including Electronic Data Systems in 2008, which led to combined revenues of $118.4 billion that year and a Fortune 500 ranking of 9 in 2009, and later 3Com, Palm, Inc., and 3PAR, all in 2010, followed by Autonomy Corp. However, as a result of the turmoil created by several of these acquisitions, the company's fortunes swiftly declined in the 2010s. This led to Hewlett-Packard Company's split into two separate companies on November 1, 2015: its enterprise products and services business were spun-off to form Hewlett Packard Enterprise, while its personal computer and printer businesses became HP Inc. The split was structured so that the former Hewlett-Packard Company would change its name to HP Inc. and spin off Hewlett Packard Enterprise as a newly created company. HP Inc. retained the old Hewlett-Packard's stock-price history and original NYSE ticker symbol; Hewlett Packard Enterprise trades under its own ticker symbol: HPE.

Bill Hewlett and David Packard graduated with degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1935. The company started in a garage in Palo Alto during a fellowship they had with past professor Frederick Terman at Stanford during the Great Depression, whom they considered a mentor. In 1938, Packard and Hewlett began part-time work in a rented garage with an initial capital investment of US$538 (equivalent to $12,305 in 2025). In 1939, Hewlett and Packard decided to formalize their partnership. They tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard (HP) or Packard-Hewlett. Hewlett and Packard's first financially successful product was a precision audio oscillator known as the HP 200A, which used a small incandescent light bulb as a temperature dependent resistor in a critical portion of the circuit, and a negative feedback loop to stabilize the amplitude of the output sinusoidal waveform. This allowed the HP 200A to be sold for $89.40 when competitors were selling less stable oscillators for over $200. The 200 series of generators continued production until at least 1972 as the 200AB, still tube-based but improved in design through the years. One of the company's earliest customers was Bud Hawkins, chief sound engineer for Walt Disney Studios, who bought eight HP 200B audio oscillators (at $71.50 each) to be used in the animated film Fantasia. HP's profit at the end of 1939, its first full year of business, was $1,563 (equivalent to $36,177 in 2025) on revenues of $5,369. In 1942, they built their first building at 395 Page Mill Road and were awarded the Army-Navy "E" Award in 1943. HP employed 200 people and produced the audio oscillator, a wave analyzer, distortion analyzers, an audio-signal generator, and the Model 400A vacuum-tube voltmeter during the war. Hewlett and Packard worked on counter-radar technology and artillery shell proximity fuzes during World War II; the work exempted Packard from the draft, but Hewlett had to serve as an officer in the Army Signal Corps after being called to active duty. HP was incorporated on August 18, 1947, with Packard as president. Sales reached $5.5 million in 1951 with 215 employees. The company went public on November 6, 1957. In 1959, a manufacturing plant was established in Böblingen and a marketing organization in Geneva. Packard handed the presidency over to Hewlett when he became chairman in 1964, but remained CEO of the company.

HP is recognized as the symbolic founder of Silicon Valley, though it did not actively investigate semiconductor devices until a few years after the "traitorous eight" abandoned William Shockley to create Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957. The company's HP Associates division was established around 1960 under the leadership of Jack Melchor to develop semiconductor devices primarily for internal use. Instruments and calculators were some of the original HP products that used semiconductor devices. During the 1960s, HP partnered with Sony and Yokogawa Electric in Japan to develop several high-quality products.

The products were not a huge success, as there were high costs involved in building HP-looking products in Japan. In 1963, HP and Yokogawa formed the joint venture Yokogawa-Hewlett-Packard to market HP products in Japan. HP bought Yokogawa Electric's share of Hewlett-Packard Japan in 1999. HP spun off the small company Dynac to specialize in digital equipment. The name was picked so that the HP logo could be turned upside down to be a reflected image of the logo of the new company (DY). Dynac was eventually renamed Dymec and folded back into HP in 1959. HP experimented with using Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) minicomputers with its instruments, but entered the computer market in 1966 with the HP 2100 / HP 1000 series of minicomputers after it decided that it would be easier to build another small design team than deal with DEC. The minicomputers had a simple accumulator-based design with two accumulator registers and, in the HP 1000 models, two index registers. The series was produced for 20 years in spite of several attempts to replace it, and was a forerunner of the HP 9800 and HP 250 series of desktop and business computers. Beginning in 1961, Hewlett-Packard was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (as well as the now-closed Pacific Exchange) under its own ticker symbol, "HWP". At the end of 1968, Packard handed over the duties of CEO to Hewlett to become United States Deputy Secretary of Defense in the incoming Nixon administration. He resumed the chairmanship in 1972 and served until 1993, but Hewlett remained the CEO.

The HP 3000 was an advanced stack-based design for a business computing server, later redesigned with RISC technology. The HP 2640 series of smart and intelligent terminals introduced forms-based interfaces to ASCII terminals, and also introduced screen labeled function keys. The HP 2640 series included one of the first bit mapped graphics displays that, when combined with the HP 2100 21MX F-Series microcoded Scientific Instruction Set, enabled the first commercial WYSIWYG presentation program, BRUNO, that later became the program HP-Draw on the HP 3000. Although scoffed at in the formative days of computing, HP surpassed IBM as the world's largest technology vendor in terms of sales. HP was identified by Wired magazine as the producer of the world's first device to be called a personal computer: the Hewlett-Packard 9100A, introduced in 1968. HP called it a desktop calculator because, as Hewlett said: "If we had called it a computer, it would have been rejected by our customers' computer gurus because it didn't look like an IBM. We therefore decided to call it a calculator, and all such nonsense disappeared." An engineering triumph at the time, the logic circuit was produced without any integrated circuits, and the CPU assembly was entirely executed in discrete components. With CRT display, magnetic-card storage, and printer, the price was around $5,000. The machine's keyboard was a cross between the keyboard of a scientific calculator and the keyboard of an adding machine. There was no alphabetic keyboard. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak originally designed the Apple I computer while working at HP and offered it to HP under its right of first refusal to his work. It did not take it up as the company wanted to stay in scientific, business, and industrial markets. Wozniak said that HP "turned him down five times", but that his loyalty to HP made him hesitant to start Apple with Steve Jobs. The company earned global respect for a variety of products. They introduced the world's first handheld scientific electronic calculator in 1972 (the HP-35), the first handheld programmable in 1974 (the HP-65), the first alphanumeric, programmable, expandable in 1979 (the HP-41C), and the first symbolic and graphing calculator, the HP-28C. Like its scientific and business calculators, HP oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other measurement instruments had a reputation for sturdiness and usability. HP introduced the Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus (HPIB) computer peripheral interface (later cloned by National Instruments as GPIB and standardized by the IEEE as IEEE-488) on its relay actuator products in 1973. HPIB was later integrated into most high end test & measurement equipment it produced from 1980 onward. As early as 1977, HP began production of the HP856x spectrum analyzers to complement its RF power meters and sensors capable of measuring signals in excess of 20 GHz. HP also produced configurable chassis based sweep generators capable of generating signals to 20 GHz. Other T&M products of the time included lab grade multimeters, microwave frequency counters, RF amplifiers, high accuracy microwave detectors, lab grade power supplies and more. These products were succeeded by modernized versions as well as the introduction of the scalar and vector network analyzer product lines prior to the business being spun off into Agilent Technologies. The HP 9800 series of technical desktop computers started in 1971 with the 9810A. The HP Series 80 started in 1979 with the 85. Some of these machines used a version of the BASIC programming language, which was available immediately after they were switched on, and used a proprietary magnetic tape for storage. HP computers were similar in capabilities to the much later IBM Personal Computer, though the limitations of available technology forced prices to be high. In 1978, Hewlett stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by John A. Young.

5. Performance Evaluation & Extended Technical Observations In the 1990s, HP expanded its computer product line, which initially had been targeted at university, research, and business users, to reach consumers. In 1995, HP entered into the home and home office market for the first time with the introduction of the HP Pavilion brand of personal computers, which initially featured desktop models but later added laptop and notebook models to the lineup in 1999. HP also grew through acquisitions: it bought Apollo Computer in 1989 and Convex Computer in 1995. In 1992, Young was succeeded by Lewis E. Platt, and in 1993 Packard stepped down from the board, with Platt succeeding Packard as chairman. In 1993, HP acquired Advanced Design System from Pathwave. The ADS suite of RF simulation tools was spun off into Agilent in 1999 along with related T&M business units, all of which were carried forward into the spinoff of Agilent into Keysight. Later in the decade, HP opened hpshopping.com as an independent subsidiary to sell online, direct to consumers; in 2005, the store was renamed "HP Home & Home Office Store". From 1995 to 1999, Hewlett-Packard were sponsors of the English football team Tottenham Hotspur. In 1999, all of the businesses not related to computers, storage, and imaging were spun off from HP to form Agilent Technologies. Agilent's spin-off was the largest initial public offering in the history of Silicon Valley, and it created an $8 billion company with about 30,000 employees, manufacturing scientific instruments, semiconductors, optical networking devices, and electronic test equipment for telecom and wireless, research and development, and production. In July 1999, HP appointed Carly Fiorina as the first female CEO of a Fortune-20 company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Fiorina received a larger signing offer than any of her predecessors. The same year, Fiorina articulated a set of "rules of the garage" in an attempt to reinterpret the spirit of the company's founders.

On September 3, 2001, HP announced that an agreement had been reached with Compaq to merge the two companies. On May 3, 2002, after passing a shareholder vote, HP officially announced the merger with Compaq; the newly-merged company would officially launch a few days later on May 7, 2002. Prior to this, plans had been put in place to consolidate the companies' product teams and product lines. As Compaq acquired Tandem Computers in 1997 and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1998, HP gained control of both acquired companies' product lines, and offered support for the Tandem NonStop family (now owned by Hewlett Packard Enterprise) and DEC products PDP-11, VAX and Alpha for quite some time until the later years where support was gradually dwindled. Both the DEC PDP-11 and VAX were discontinued years prior to the merger, and HP supported Alpha until April 2007. The merger was preceded by a proxy fight in 2001 with numerous large HP shareholders, in particular Bill Hewlett's son Walter and other descendants of the business founders, objecting to the merger, only approving it reluctantly. Prior to the merger, HP's ticker symbol was "HWP", which became "HPQ" shortly after acquiring Compaq, and was subsequently announced on May 6, 2002. The new ticker symbol is a combination of the two previous symbols, "HWP" and "CPQ" respectively, showing the significance of the alliance. HP then became a major producer in desktop computers, laptops, and servers for many different markets in the coming years. In 2002, Mscape was established as a mobile media gaming platform that could be used to create location-based games. HP would release new models of laptops under the Pavilion name during the early-to-mid 2000s, including the dv1000 series (which includes the dv1040 and the later dv1658 models) in August 2004 and the dv4000 and dv8000 series in 2005. In January 2005, following years of underperformance, which included HP's Compaq merger that fell short and disappointing earning reports, the board asked Fiorina to resign as chair and chief executive officer of the company, which she did on February 9, 2005. After her departure, HP's stock jumped 6.9 percent. Robert Wayman, chief financial officer of HP, served as interim CEO while the board undertook a formal search for a replacement. Mark Hurd of NCR Corporation was hired to take over as CEO and president, effective April 1, 2005. Hurd was the board's top choice given the revival of NCR that took place under his leadership.

In 2006, HP unveiled several new products including desktops, enhanced notebooks, a workstation, and software to manage them—OpenView Client Configuration Manager 2.0. That same year, HP's share price skyrocketed due to consistent results in the last couple quarters of the year with Hurd's plan to cut back HP's workforce and lower costs. HP was delisted from the Pacific Exchange (now closed with trades going through the NYSE Arca platform) on May 1, 2006, but continues to trade on the New York Stock Exchange as well as Nasdaq. HP introduced a global marketing campaign for its line of personal computers in May 2006 under the tagline "The Computer is Personal Again", coinciding with the launch of its new line of consumer and business products that same month. The campaign aimed at bringing back the computer as a powerful personal tool, utilizing viral marketing and sophisticated visuals, and had its own website. The ads featured Pharrell, Petra Nemcova, Mark Burnett, Mark Cuban, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Gwen Stefani, and Shaun White. This campaign applied to HP's product offerings which included desktops, laptops, and other hardware and software. HP introduced new laptop models for the HP Pavilion lineup in 2006, starting with the dv5000 series in January, the dv2000 series in May and later the dv6000 and dv9000 series in July. In July 2007, HP signed a definitive agreement to acquire Opsware in a cash tender deal that values the company at $14.25 per share, which combined Opsware software with the Oracle enterprise IT management software. In the first few years of Hurd's tenure as CEO, HP's stock price more than doubled. By the end of the 2007 fiscal year, HP reached the $100 billion mark for the first time. The company's annual revenue reached $104 billion, allowing HP to overtake competitor IBM. On May 13, 2008, HP and Electronic Data Systems (EDS) announced that they had signed a definitive agreement under which HP would purchase EDS. On June 30, HP announced that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 had expired. "The transaction still requires EDS stockholder approval and regulatory clearance from the European Commission and other non-U.S. jurisdictions and is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the other closing conditions specified in the merger agreement." The agreement was finalized on August 26, 2008, at $13 billion, and it was publicly announced that EDS would be re-branded. The first targeted layoff of 24,600 former EDS workers was announced on September 15, 2008. (The company's 2008 annual report gave the number as 24,700, to be completed by end of 2009.) This round was factored into the purchase price as a $19.5 billion liability against goodwill. As of September 23, 2009, EDS was known as HP Enterprise Services (now known as DXC Technology). On November 11, 2009, 3Com and Hewlett-Packard announced that the latter would be acquiring 3Com for $2.7 billion in cash. The acquisition was one of the biggest in size among a series of takeovers and acquisitions by technology giants to push their way to become one-stop shops. Since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007, tech giants have constantly felt the pressure to expand beyond their current market niches. Dell purchased Perot Systems to move into the technology consulting business area previously dominated by IBM. Hewlett-Packard's latest move marked its diversification into enterprise networking gear market dominated by Cisco.

On April 28, 2010, HP announced that it would buy Palm, Inc. for $1.2 billion in cash and debt. The acquisition of Palm, Inc. was finalized on July 1, 2010. Adding Palm handsets to the HP product line created some overlap with the iPAQ series of mobile devices, but was thought to significantly improve HP's mobile presence as iPAQ devices had not been selling well. Buying Palm, Inc. gave HP a library of valuable patents and the mobile operating platform, webOS. Purchasing its webOS was a big gamble to build HP's own ecosystem. On July 1, 2011, HP launched its first tablet, HP TouchPad, which brought webOS to tablet devices. On September 2, 2010, HP won the bidding war for 3PAR with a $33 a share offer ($2.07 billion) that Dell declined to match. After HP acquired Palm Inc., it phased out the Compaq brand. On August 6, 2010, Hurd resigned amid controversy and CFO Cathie Lesjak assumed the role of interim CEO. Hurd had turned HP around and was widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley's star CEOs, and under his leadership, HP became the largest computer company in the world when measured by total revenue. He was accused of sexual harassment against a colleague, though the allegations were deemed baseless. The investigation led to questions concerning some of his expenses and the lack of disclosure related to the friendship. Some observers have argued that Hurd was innocent, but the board asked for his resignation to avoid negative public relations. Public analysis was divided between those who saw it as a commendable tough action by HP and those who saw it as an ill-advised, hasty, and expensive reaction, that ousted a capable leader who had turned the business around. At HP, Hurd oversaw a series of acquisitions worth over $20 billion, which allowed the company to expand into services of networking equipment and smartphones. HP shares dropped 8.4% in after-hours trading, hitting a 52-week low with a $9 billion reduction in market capitalization. Larry Ellison publicly attacked HP's board for Hurd's ousting, stating that the HP board had "made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago". On September 30, 2010, Léo Apotheker was named HP's new CEO and president. His appointment sparked a strong reaction from Ellison, who complained that Apotheker had been in charge of SAP when one of its subsidiaries was systematically stealing software from Oracle. SAP accepted that its subsidiary, which has now closed, illegally accessed Oracle intellectual property. Following Hurd's departure, HP was seen to be problematic by the market, with margins falling and them failing to establish themselves in major new markets such as cloud and mobile services. Apotheker's strategy was to broadly aim at disposing hardware, whilst moving into the more profitable software services sector. On August 18, 2011, HP announced that it would strategically exit the smartphone and tablet computer business, and focus on higher-margin "strategic priorities of Cloud, solutions and software with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets". It also contemplated selling off its personal computer division or spinning it off into a separate company, and quitting PC development while continuing to sell servers and other equipment to business customers, which was a strategy undertaken by IBM in 2005. On November 1, 2010, the classic 1979 Hewlett-Packard logo was discontinued and replaced with a new circle HP logo, with a larger and thinner wormark, for corporate branding. The 2008 circle variant was continued to be used as the secondary logo.

This also made the 1999 symbol-only variant was also discontinued on the same day. The last product to use this logo was the HP ProLiant DL380 G7. HP's stock dropped by about a further 40% after the company abruptly announced a number of decisions: to discontinue its webOS device business (mobile phones and tablet computers), the intent to sell its personal computer division (at the time HP was the largest personal computer manufacturer in the world), and to acquire British big data software firm Autonomy for a 79% premium, seen externally as an "absurdly high" price for a business with known concerns over its accounts. Media analysts described HP's actions as a "botched strategy shift" and a "chaotic" attempt to rapidly reposition HP and enhance earnings. HP's CFO objected to the Autonomy acquisition. HP lost more than $30 billion in market capitalization during Apotheker's tenure, and on September 22, 2011, the HP Board of Directors fired him as chief executive and replaced him with fellow board member and former eBay chief Meg Whitman, with Raymond J. Lane as executive chairman. Although Apotheker served barely ten months, he received over $13 million in compensation. Weeks later, HP announced that a review had concluded its PC division was too integrated and critical to business operations, and the company reaffirmed its commitment to the Personal Systems Group. On March 21, 2012, HP said its printing and PC divisions would become one unit headed by Todd Bradley from the PC division, and printing chief Vyomesh Joshi left the company. On May 23, 2012, HP announced plans to lay off approximately 27,000 employees, after posting a profit decline of 31% in the second quarter of 2012. Profits declined because of the growing popularity of smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices, which slowed down personal computer sales. On May 30, 2012, HP unveiled its first net zero energy data center, which used solar energy and other renewable sources instead of traditional power grids. On July 10, 2012, HP's Server Monitoring Software was discovered to have a previously unknown security vulnerability. A security warning was given to customers about two vulnerabilities, and a patch addressing the issues was released. One month later, HP's official training center was hacked and defaced by a Pakistani hacker known as Hitcher to demonstrate a Web vulnerability. On September 10, 2012, HP revised its restructuring figures and started cutting 29,000 jobs. In November 2012, HP wrote off almost $9 billion related to the Autonomy acquisition, which became the subject of intense litigation, as HP accused Autonomy's previous management of fraudulently exaggerating Autonomy's financial position and called in law enforcement and regulators in both countries. Autonomy's previous management accused HP of "textbook" obfuscation and finger pointing to protect HP's executives from criticism and conceal HP culpability, their prior knowledge of Autonomy's financial position, and gross mismanagement of Autonomy after acquisition.

HP's global operations were directed from its headquarters in Palo Alto, California. Its US operations were directed from its facility in an unincorporated area of Harris County, Texas, near Houston. Its Latin America offices were in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida. Its European offices were in Meyrin, close to Geneva, Switzerland, but it also had a research center in the Paris-Saclay cluster 20 km south of Paris, France. Its Asia-Pacific offices were in Singapore. HP had large operations in Leixlip, Ireland; Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Corvallis, Oregon; Fort Collins, Colorado; Roseville, California; Saint Petersburg, Florida; San Diego, California; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Vancouver, Washington; Conway, Arkansas; and Plano, Texas. In the UK, HP was based at a large site in Bracknell, Berkshire, with offices in various UK locations, including a landmark office tower in London, 88 Wood Street. Its acquisition of 3Com expanded its employee base to Marlborough, Massachusetts, where HP Inc. has been manufacturing its convertible laptop series since late 2019. HP had a large workforce and numerous offices in Bucharest, Romania, and at Bangalore, India, to address their back end and IT operations. Mphasis, which is headquartered at Bangalore, also enabled HP to increase their footprint in the city, as it was a subsidiary of EDS which the company acquired.

HP produced lines of printers, scanners, digital cameras, calculators, personal digital assistants, servers, workstation computers, and computers for home and small-business use; many of the computers came from the 2002 merger with Compaq. HP as of 2001 promoted itself as supplying not just hardware and software, but also a full range of services to design, implement, and support IT infrastructure. HP's Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) was described by the company in 2005 as "the leading imaging and printing systems provider in the world for printer hardware, printing supplies and scanning devices, providing solutions across customer segments from individual consumers to small and medium businesses to large enterprises".

Harvested Online Documentation & Reference Sources • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberterrorism • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%202026%20FIFA%20World%20Cup%20controversies