Computer viruses are one of the most serious threats in the digital world. They can cause significant damage, destroy data, and even lead to major financial losses.
Let’s take a look back at some of the most destructive viruses in history.
10 Code Red
The virus was launched in 2001 and infected 360,000 machines, creating a botnet to attack the White House website.
The virus displayed a message on the screen “Hacked By Chinese!” – a hint of Communist China, although in reality the virus was likely written by ethnic Chinese in the Philippines.
9 Morris
By 1988, the virus began to infect 60,000 computers over the network and stopped them from working right. The Morris worm managed to create $96.5 million worth of damage.
Robert Morris was sentenced to three years probation, a $10,000 fine, and 400 hours of community service at trial, where he faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, for the sake of extenuating circumstances.
8 Blaster
About 300,000 computers were infected worldwide. It was launched in 2003 to attack Microsoft sites. Its author was never found.
The worm was relatively safe for the user, except for the side effect of regularly rebooting the computer. The purpose of this worm was to attack Microsoft servers at midnight on August 16, 2003.
However, Microsoft temporarily shut down its servers, which minimized the damage caused by the virus. Blaster contained a hidden message in its code addressed to Bill Gates: “Bill Gates, why are you making this possible? Stop making money, fix your software!”.
7 Melissa
The author of the virus, David Smith, named his brainchild after a stripper from Miami. In fact, when infected, the stripper appeared on the homepage.
The virus caused more than $80 million in losses. Microsoft and Intel even had to shut down their own mail servers. Smith was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison.
6 CIH
The famous Chornobyl virus was written by Taiwanese student Chen Yinghao specifically for Windows 95/98.
On April 26, the anniversary of the nuclear power plant accident, the virus activated, paralyzing computers. The virus affected about half a million personal computers worldwide.
5 Nimda
The Nimda Worm was discovered in September 2001 and used email, websites, and network services to infect computers.
It could modify files, create security holes, install malware, and even create its own copies for further distribution. It could also affect servers running Windows operating systems.
4 Storm Worm
Storm Worm, also known as Peacomm or Nuwar, was spread via emails with sensational headlines such as “230 killed by storm in Europe” or “Killer at 11, free at 21 and killing again.”
These emails encouraged users to open attachments that were actually malware. The virus could steal email addresses and install a backdoor for remote access.
Storm Worm infected over a million computers worldwide, causing significant disruption and consuming massive amounts of bandwidth.
3 Slammer
The most aggressive virus ever. In 2003, it wiped out 75,000 computers in 10 minutes. It is a kind of Greyhound in comparison to other dog breeds.
Slammer has become an important example of the importance of applying timely security updates and keeping networks protected.
2 Conficker
The malware was written in Microsoft Visual C++ and first appeared online on November 21, 2008. As of January 2009, the virus had affected 12 million computers worldwide.
On February 12, 2009, Microsoft promised $250 thousand for information about the virus creators.
1 ILOVEYOU
The “ILOVEYOU” virus was one of the most notorious and destructive computer viruses that appeared in May 2000. It spread through e-mail by attaching itself to an email with the subtitle “ILOVEYOUU”.
When the user opened the attachment, the virus infected the computer and then sent itself to all contacts in the address book, causing it to spread rapidly around the world.
The damage that the worm brought to the world’s economy is estimated at some $10 – 15 billion, the virus entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most devastating computer virus in the world.
Conclusion
Keep your personal data safe and do not click on suspicious links. Use good antivirus software and you will never be listed as a victim of virus attacks.
