[resonator]

It's documented in Underground[1] that Spafford was the target of some crackers, eager to get info on the latest security vulrabilities; information that was difficult to obtain in the 80s. They intended to break into his computer and take it.

It's a wonderful book all about the hacking scene of 80s and early 90s. It covers a young Julian Assange, but that's not why you should read it.

1. https://underground-book.net/

[tptacek]

For whatever it's worth, anybody with any connection to any kind of vulnerability research was a target in the 1990s.