It’s just another day as you slide into your seat and hit the start button on your computer. You guzzle coffee as you wait for your system to start up, and bam! Your stomach drops as you stare at the deep indigo colored screen. It’s not a folk tale, it’s not an urban legend…it’s the blue screen of death. (BSOD) Yikes. There goes your day.
We all know that it’s common sense to stay away from funny looking email. If you don’t know who sent it, don’t open it. It’s a great concept, in theory. In fact, lots of us with itchy, trigger-happy fingers have opened email titled ILOVEYOU only to be bitten by the love bug. Ouch. Let’s take a look at some of the worst network attacks of all time.
ILOVEYOU ? 2000
The ILOVEYOU is one of the first viruses to trick users into opening a file. The virus used mailing lists as its source for targets, so the messages appeared to come from someone known to the user, such as a friend or relative, making it seem safe to open. In reality, the file was a VBS script with an avalanche of junk mail that deleted thousands of files, including multimedia, music, and personal files. The author is not known, but it started in the Philippines.
Nimda ? 2001
Built on Code Red’s attack system of finding multiple avenues into machines such as email, websites, and network connections, Nimda (admin backwards) computer worm infected Web servers and user machines. It was so effective it managed to leave a wide trail of casualties in its wake a mere 22 minutes after it was released. Nimda heavily impacted users of Windows programs. Some groups linked Nimda to Al-Qaeda because of the massive and quick destruction it caused, but this theory was dismissed. The author of Nimda remains unknown but left $635 million in destructive damage.
Slammer ? 2003
The Slammer computer worm spread rapidly, infecting most of its 75,000 victims within ten minutes. When routers started to crash, it slowed the Internet to a crawl and shut down thousands of websites. The Slammer was named by Christopher J. Rouland because of it’s sudden effect. Although named SQL Slammer, it did not use SQL language. 22,000 systems were affected worldwide and South Koreans reported Internet shut downs for hours nationwide on January 25th, 2003.
MyDoom ? 2004
When MyDoom hit the scene it became the fastest-spreading computer worm of all time. Once it succeeded to infect computers, it would in turn send even more junk mail through infected computers with the subject “andy; I’m just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry”. There was speculation that MyDoom was used to attack the website of SCO Group, in retaliation of legal actions against a Linux or open source supporter. This claim since then has been dismissed and denied. The Author of this worm is not known.
Storm ? 2007
The storm, a backdoor Trojan horse, swooped in and infected thousands of computers using an email with a subject line about a weather disaster. A Trojan likely appears to perform a specific action, but destructs and infects through a virus attack by performing something completely different. Trojans install backdoor programs. It mutated and spread via email spam with a fake attachment, and infected 10 million computers.
So is it over? Attackers continue to probe and sniff out weaknesses in hardware or software to gain access to networks, so take sensible precautions. In 2006, Malware resulted in $13.3 billion in damages across corporate America. Remember to avoid opening attachments or download programs that seem questionable or odd because it can take one click to bring down your company’s entire network.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pm
You attract what happens to you. The power of attraction
is responsible for everything, no exceptions. This is a mechanism that continues unabated, never to stop. Your only
control over it is how you think. Belief is its instruction.
Faith is its engine of movement.As long as you remain passive relative to it, it will carry you along with you having no choice.—Doug Rosbury
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 am
Yay, I’m #2!! And, yeah, if you are stupid enough to open a questionable email or document, you kind of deserve whatever happens. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m pro-Virus!
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 am
It astonishes me that you started this list at 2000 and cover less that a quarter of the history of viruses. Where is Jerusalem, or even Melissa?
Try again.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:39 pm
You also forgot one of the worst viruses in history, Yoshimitsu Gold. It’s exceedingly rare to get, but if you do, your computer is a goner. Only a handful of virus databases still list it, and even when they do the detection and solution is “none”. Thank god super viruses like this no longer exist.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Mmh, I feel sorry for these unlucky PC users..I am on a Mac mercifully!
May 7th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I use Avast (http://www.avast.com/) an amazing FREE anti virus. Apparently (not entirely sure) the guys who make this are the ones who first realise the viruses then send the remedies to people like Norton (scoff)…
August 26th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
There was one going around this year that changed a setting in the registry that caused your hard drive to format the next time you restarted your computer.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
there are now even more plenty of websites to copy and paste virus to any one you feel like which is really sad.lol
personally i enjoy reading about theese things because its entertaining but i dont like the affects or damage caused by virus
May 10th, 2009 at 8:35 am
just an inside info the people who created the ILOVEYOU virus are from the philippines and they are earning money right now cause they are already hired by one of the biggest computer system worldwide..
May 19th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
What are those things that are prone to virus atacks in your systttem?, or what are those things that can easily be attacked with these virus?
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system
July 10th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Can anybody please let me know why do some files of virus do not infect the system when they are executed. Is it that there exists some requirement which are not fulfilled in the system or by the system