The most dangerous computer virus ever: the story of the Melissa virus
A little over 20 years ago, on March 26th, 1999, the first widespread computer virus hit the internet. That virus was called Melissa, and it was unleashed upon the world by a man named David L. Smith. Melissa was a relatively simple virus, compared to the malware we see today. It infected computers running Microsoft Word, and macro functionality to spread itself. When a user opened an infected document, the macro would run, and send a copy of the document, along with the virus, to the first 50 people in the user’s address book. In just a few days, Melissa had spread to hundreds of thousands of computers in companies and organizations all over the world, causing millions of dollars in damage.
While Melissa was not the first virus to spread via email, it was by far the most successful. In part, this was because it exploited a then-unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Word. But it was also due to the way the virus was spread: by masquerading as a legitimate document, it managed to dupe people into opening it. This, combined with the fact that the virus could spread itself automatically, made Melissa extremely contagious.
Fortunately, Melissa was relatively easy to remove, and its creator was quickly apprehended and sentenced to 10 years in prison. But the damage had been done, and the Melissa virus set the stage for future malware threats, which would only become more sophisticated and destructive.
In the two decades since Melissa, we’ve seen numerous other computer viruses that have caused widespread damage. In some cases, such as the Love Bug virus or the WannaCry ransomware, the damage has been primarily financial. But in others, such as the Stuxnet virus, the consequences have been far more serious, even potentially deadly.
As our dependence on computer systems has grown, so too has the threat posed by malware. In the years to come, we can only expect to see more and more sophisticated viruses, capable of causing even greater damage than Melissa..Click here for more info
The most dangerous computer virus ever: the story of the Goner virus
In the early days of computer viruses, there was the Goner virus. This was a particularly dangerous virus because it not only had the ability to delete files and render a computer unusable, but it could also spread to other computers on a network.
The Goner virus was first discovered in the wild in 1995, and it was created by a 15-year-old Russian boy named Sergei Filipov. Filipov claimed that he created the virus as a “joke” and that he did not intend for it to cause any damage. However, the virus quickly spread beyond his control.
Goner was a so-called “Trojan horse” virus, meaning that it masqueraded as something innocuous in order to trick users into running it. In Filipov’s case, he created a fake error message that appeared to come from Microsoft. When users clicked on the message, they unwittingly executed the Goner virus.
Once Goner was on a computer, it would delete a number of key files, rendering the machine useless. Even worse, it would also spread to any other computers on the same network. This made it particularly dangerous for businesses and other organizations that relied on networked computers.
Fortunately, the Goner virus was relatively short-lived. Filipov released a “fix” for the virus within a few days of its initial discovery. However, the damage had already been done, and Goner had established itself as one of the first truly dangerous computer viruses.
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