We have all heard of them, those technological epidemics that spread almost instantaneously and cause large multinationals and even entire industries to grind to a halt. The detrimental effects of these viruses remind us that not only is the internet a public space, it is a medium where your computers and systems can be rendered vulnerable by malicious programs without suitable protection or appropriate business IT support. This article looks at the five deadliest viruses in history and the scope of damage they have caused.
The Melissa Virus of 1999
One of the earlier viruses of the internet age was the Melissa virus of 1999. Named for a lap dancer by its creator, David Smith, this virus caused enormous disruption by having users' email clients send out copies of itself in an attachment to address book contacts. Once opened by the next user, it was installed on their computer. Melissa multiplied rapidly over the internet, causing over US$80 million loss to North American companies. Among its victims were multinational companies such as Microsoft, Intel, and Alcatel-Lucent, which were forced to shut down their email channels and quickly introduce professional IT support in order to recover their systems. Smith was sentenced to only 20 months in prison and fined US$5,000 in exchange for assisting the FBI with its anti-malware program.
ILOVEYOU, 2000
In a single day in May 2000, the ILOVEYOU virus, which worked in a similar way as the Melissa virus, spread around the world and caused at least US$5.5 billion worth of damage. Tens of millions of computers were affected as ILOVEYOU distributed itself through email and replicated itself once it reached the user's computer. The virus then downloaded a program that stole passwords without the user being alerted to its presence. Despite the severe damage caused by ILOVEYOU, due to a lack of legislation in his home country, the alleged creator of the virus – a Filipino hacker by the name of Onel de Guzman – was never tried.
The Nimda Virus, 2001
The following year proved to be a good year for viruses. The network worm known by the name of Code Red caused over US$2 billion damage in July of that year, followed by Code Red II in August, and Nimda, which spread itself via email, cost industry and government US$635 million in damage. Nimda opened a back door into the user's operating system, allowing hackers to assume control of the computer. It also attacked servers which led internet traffic to slow to a halt, the full costs of which were not able to be measured.
SQL Slammer/Sapphire SQL, 2003
Other deadly viruses of 2003 included MS Blaster in August of 2003 and SQL Slammer, which spread with catastrophic speed and attacked web servers. The number of servers affected by SQL Slammer doubled every few minutes. After a mere fifteen minutes of its first infection, the virus had infected almost half of the servers that were considered pillars of the internet. SQL Slammer crashed the entire ATM network of the Bank of America, caused power cuts in San Francisco, and Continental Airlines to cancel many fights. The damage caused by SQL Slammer has been estimated to be over US$1 billion.
Stuxnet, 2010
While many other viruses have since surfaced and demonstrated their ability to cause serious and widespread damage (MyDoom, Sasser and Netsky, and StormWorm), Stuxnet is to be counted among the deadliest viruses in recent history. A highly sophisticated worm, Stuxnet was designed to attack industrial equipment rather than the average internet user. First discovered in July 2010, Stuxnet appears to have been designed to spy on and reprogram industrial systems that were manufactured by Siemens and used in Iran's nuclear development program. Almost 60 per cent of its targets were located in Iran. Stuxnet's attack resulted in the malfunction of a fifth of Iran's nuclear centrifuges.
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This article is published as: The Five Deadliest Computer Viruses
For me the most memorable and highly talked about virus is the ILOVEYOU virus. But I think, the story behind it is that, it was unintentional and it was only a part of a thesis or project done by a group of students headed by Onel himself.
Ron recently posted..Dora Games – Dora The Explorer Fun Facts And Trivia
I have never understood why they make and spread these viruses… what is the point!?
Russ recently posted..Shakeology and the Glycemic Index
coz virus can make money, it's part of a bussiness,,, even the other antivirus create their viruses,,, it's just because of money,,,and you cannot notice that you've been deceived to buy product that will protect to your pc,,
I don't know if I am happy to read a list of a bunch of viruses, but I did had an experience with a newly released virus.
The virus was in the "wilds" for just 2 days and I got it, I don't know how but I was the unlucky carrier of such a virus and I joined a specialized forum to try to remove and it just wouldn't go off, I had to reinstall my OS. Pretty bad experience.
Needless to say that I am very careful to what I download since then…
Alex recently posted..Salon de coafura
I was 'way' too involved in the tech world and experience each of these viruses (usually indirectly) previous the ones in 2003. After a short technical hiatus I have been back for the past last four years or so but am 'so' over the Windows world for these virus and worm reasons.
I've been a Linux guy on my primary desktop computer for almost a year now and it's so much more peaceful.
And I know I know; a lot of these things could still affect me indirectly. But I've had it so much with these things that I won't so much as even take a paid job to fix someone else's virus infected computer. I just give free advice for Windows users.
1) Backup your data
2) Wipe out your system completely
3) Repartition it into three partition (one that you will eventually hide)
4) Reinstall your OS, drivers, and your software exactly how you want it.
5) Use Clonezilla to make a perfect image of your perfect little install.
6) Put this image in that third partition and hide it from the OS (ask me how).
More details of the strategy I used to use can be found here: http://wp.me/p11BV-H
Tim G. recently posted..File Synchronization with Unison
I've done the switch more than once, but I'm doing the final time after buying a new PC. My wife will be buying what I want in the US (from Fry's Electronics) because she's going to ship at least one balikbayan box while she's there. The price of a comparable PC (just the PC, no monitor) in the Philippines (and without an OS) is way more expensive that what I can get there. Anyway, I digress.
I use Clonezilla and backup the images to an external drive. I hate Windows, with a passion, but there are still applications I need to use with Windows. The answer for me is "Virtualbox". It allows me to run Windows under Linux, but only when I need it. Of course, that need is getting less and less these days, so I may be able to ditch Windows completely soon.
The same case as of Alex happened with me too a few days back. I have to reinstall my windows and it was too much annoyance as it made me handicapped for around a week.
I cannot remember there was one more virus name which was spreading on an particular day of month. I read about it on a news channel i think i was bit smaller. Still i hope there is no more viruses damaging public wealth. Thanks anna for these info about top viruses.
engagement rings recently posted..Wedding Favors and Flowers
… I'm slow. I just realized that this was either intentionally or unintentionally an experiment in content posting. This is the first tech article that Annabelle had done here and it has gotten more comments (I don't know about the hits) than any other post she had done on this site.
Comes to no surprise to me that a tech article would get more comments (and possibly hits) on a blog that I see is primarily about either the personal life of it's founder or about things techy'ish :-) … So what's the comparative hits on this article; I'm curious now. I'll find out if I'm off base.
Tim G. recently posted..File Synchronization with Unison
Since it was posted, it ranks as #59 out of 741 unique landing page hits. Unintentional is correct. The follow-up articles (by me) dealing with browser security are intentional.
I feel that many of these viruses could be actually written (and released) by anti-virus software giants. May sound a bit far-fetched, but who knows malicious software better than the people who defend against it? ;)
My take is that multiple levels of protection can actually protect against infection 100% of the time. Good software (or hardware) firewall, good antivirus, browser integrated malware protection, manual spyware scanning software, limited accounts for non-administrators etc…
Ohhh.. I hate those viruses cos they're killing my unit! That ILOVEYOU virus in 2000 was the hated most!!
Gertrude Burghardt recently posted..Pet Food Brands