7 deadly computer viruses: Wrath: Storm Worm virus This one reared its head around 2006, and got its name from the subject line of one of the emails carrying the virus: “230 dead as storm batters Europe”. The Storm Worm virus is a Trojan program, and could potentially turn your computer into a “zombie” or “bot”, making it vulnerable to being controlled remotely once infected. In 2007 it affected computers all over the world and millions of PCs were hijacked by hackers to spread spam and steal data. Pride: Leap-A/Oomp-A virus This one also surfaced around 2006, and while it doesn’t cause too much computers, it does achieve something most other viruses haven’t – it can affect vulnerable Apple Mac computers. The Leap-A or Oomp-A virus is transmitted via the iChat instant messaging program. Once established, it rifles through the contact list and sends everyone the same message with a fake jpg image… and so it continues to spread. Sloth: MyDoom virus The MyDoom (or Novarg) virus is a worm that creates a backdoor in a computer’s operating system. At one stage the spread of the virus became so bad that it caused search engines like Google to slow down to a crawl, and some others to even crash. It was spread through emails and P2P networks and at one stage, one in every 12 email messages carried the virus, according to security firm MessageLabs. Greed: Nimda virus The Nimda (admin spelt backwards) virus struck early on, in 2001. It spread through the Internet like wildfire, becoming the fastest propagating computer virus at the time – it took only 22 minutes from the first time Nimda hit the Internet to the top of the list of reported attacks. The worm’s primary target was Internet servers and its real purpose was to bring Internet traffic to a grinding halt. It was spread through email and other methods, and created a backdoor in the victim’s operating system. Gluttony: The Klez virus This virus made its first appearance in 2001 and set the bar for those that followed. The basic Klez worm infected computers via email, replicated itself and forwarded itself to other contacts in the victim’s address book. Once hackers got hold of the Klez virus, they made various modifications to it that could effectively render computers inoperable – it could act as a virus, worm, or Trojan horse, and could even disable virus-scanning software and pose as a virus removal tool. Envy: ILOVEYOU virus This one was a worm that originated from the Philippines and was a standalone program capable of replicating itself. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by a love letter from a secret admirer? The ILOVEYOU virus played on this and spread through emails with an attachment named LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs. It could copy itself several times, add new files to affected PCs’ registry keys, replace other files with copies of itself and transmit itself through IRC clients. It also stole passwords. Lust: Melissa virus Straight out of the script of a made-for-TV movie, the Melissa virus was created by a man named David L. Smith as homage to a stripper from Florida with the same name. He built it around 1999 to spread through email messages, with deceptive messages. It would then replicate and mail itself to the top 50 people in the address book. It wreaked havoc on government and private sector networks, so much so, that it caught the attention of the FBI, leading to Smith’s arrest.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 06:57:53 +0000
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