Reflections on Trusting Trust

How to cite it

Built from the details listed on this page. Check them against the paper before you submit.

APA

(n.d.). Reflections on Trusting Trust. https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rdriley/487/papers/Thompson_1984_ReflectionsonTrustingTrust.pdf

MLA

"Reflections on Trusting Trust." n.d., https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rdriley/487/papers/Thompson_1984_ReflectionsonTrustingTrust.pdf.

BibTeX

@article{paperndreflections,
  title = {Reflections on Trusting Trust},
  year = {n.d.},
  url = {https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rdriley/487/papers/Thompson_1984_ReflectionsonTrustingTrust.pdf},
}

What it is

Ken Thompson's 1984 Turing Award lecture, which shows how a compiler can be altered to insert a hidden backdoor that survives even when the source code looks clean, and asks how far any program can be trusted.

Topics

#computer security #compilers #Trojan horse #classic paper

Added Oct 22, 2026 · 0 opens