The 6 deadliest computer viruses in history until 2019

With the beginning of the Information Age, the term began to be used computer viruses, specifically in the year 1984. They have the particular function of altering the behavior of any computing device in a mainly malicious way.

It should be noted that these virus Computer scientists replace infected executable filesIn this way, these intruders can become a real pain.

So, The first computer virus was Creeper in 1972 and attacked an IBM Series 360 computer, issuing a message to users saying “I'm the creeper… catch me if you can!” From there it developed the first known antivirus with Reaper. Now, we'll mention the 6 most lethal ones so far.

And the list of computer viruses

1. Morris

In 1988 it affected around 10% of computers connected to the Internet, There were about 6,000 devices, including some from NASA. In this way, the worm-like virus It posted losses of around $96 million.

For this reason, the Computer Emergency Response Team was created. As for the author, Robert Morris was sentenced to 3 years' probation for his audacity. 400 hours of community service and a $10,050 fine.

2. Chernobyl

Then, In 1998, another quite lethal virus called Chernobyl appeared, also known as CIH. It invaded computers with the Windows 95, 98 and 2000 operating systems. Once it was introduced, deleted the information on the entire computer.

And if that weren't enough, in some cases it affected the BIOS (Binary Input Output System), rendering the computer unusable. As a result, Economic damage was around $1 billion after attacking some 60 million users.

3. Mellisa

A few months later they released another computer virus, which It arrived in the email as a Word attachment. In this way, it installed itself on the computer, modifying documents and disabling word processor options.

In addition, It was responsible for taking the first 50 contacts from the Outlook application and forwarded the information to them. The damage caused was estimated at approximately $1.1 billion. While to Its creator, David L. Smith, was fined $5,000 and sentenced to 20 months in prison.

4. I love you

Months later, in In 2000, he arrived from the Philippines This virus was hiding behind a love letter. It was developed in Visual Basic, with surprising features, as it replicated itself, It hid in folders, added and replaced files, and forwarded itself via email.

It is worth noting that its creator, Onel de Guzmán, never went to jail, Because in the Philippines, there was no penalty for such a cybercrime. The consequences of its software were quantified in about $7.8 billion in damages.

5. My Doom

In 2004, I arrived This virus that affected Windows security, to the point of rendering it unusable. It basically worked in two stages: first, it attacked the DDoS and then attempted to send itself through email accounts.

In addition to generating speed problems in search engines like Google, users reduced their global network traffic by up to 10% out of fear. As a result, generated damage estimated at around 40 billion dollars.

6. Wanna Cry

One of the latest powerful computer viruses to have been developed globally. They now seek to affect not only ordinary users but also public institutions and large corporations. In this way, this ransomware In 2017, it affected more than 300,000 devices in about 150 countries, reaching the figure of 1 billion, without yet knowing those responsible.

Although this computer virus hijacks information and then sends an ultimatum message demanding payment in bitcoin to ransom the information, its damage has not been significant to date.

But there is a danger that it will happen again, in addition to affecting servers of public entities and corporations where a large amount of sensitive information may be stored.

It is for this reason that we must have our computer protected with antivirus, and thus avoid computer viruses and getting a surprise. There are a large number of antiviruses on the marketMany even offer a free sample for a period of time to try them out. Tell us, have you ever been affected by a particular computer virus?

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