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"Fork bomb" is a title based upon conjecture.
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A two-line computer program created "dozens" of background processes on a computer, each of which started more background processes, and so on, filling the computer's RAM and rendering the machine temporarily useless.
In 1978, Sarah Swan sneaked this program onto a Unix machine and disguised it as the system's "list files" command. (PROSE: Blue Box [+]Loading...{"chapt":"10 Four","1":"Blue Box (novel)"})