Top 5: Most Dangerous Computer Viruses in History Conficker (2008) The most recent and worldwide spread internet virus also holds the title for the most dangerous computer worm. It attacks the family of Microsoft Windows operating systems ranging from Windows 2000 to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The virus has struck more than 12 million computers worldwide by now. Its operating principle is based on finding vulnerable Windows sides associated with buffer overflows, and by using fake RPC- query executes a code, turning off the service and updating Windows departments, and blocking access to the sites of a large number of anti- virus manufacturers. My Doom (2004) The fastest e-mail virus ever. It did spread exponentially through an algorithm instructing any following computer to send even more spam than the previous one. In addition, it modified the operating system by blocking access to the websites of anti-virus companies, news feeds, and various sections of the Microsoft website. On its account there even is a DDOS-attack on the Microsoft site. Its author(s) still remain unknown but the Linux OS adepts are suspected for doing this in attempt to undermine the authority and to show the vulnerability of the Windows operating system. Nimda (2001) The name originates from the word «admin», just reversed. Once the virus got on the computer, it instantly “subscribed” itself as an administrator. Subsequently it cheated and broke the design of numerous websites, blocked access to hosts, IP-addresses, etc. Moreover, it intruded computers in such an expertly and efficiently manner that 22 minutes after its creation, it became the widest-spread computer virus on the globe ILOVEYOU (2000) One of the trickiest computer malware ever. Email users received a message entitled “I Love You” with an attached file to it. Due to this sweet message, people downloaded the file and what they got was a script that started sending email messages in incredible numbers and deleted important PC files. The results are still shocking nowadays: 10 percent of all existing computers on the globe at that moment were infected with it, thus, causing damages that amounted to $ 5,5 billion Melissa (1999) An internationally well-known email worm that infected MS Word document files and sent copies of them via e-mail messages using MS Outlook. The virus spread at a breakneck speed, and therefore the damage caused by it was estimated at more than $ 100 million.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 16:36:45 +0000
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