January 19, 2006

Happy 20th birthday to the computer virus

Skull and crossbones over a compuer keyboard

The PC virus is celebrating its 20th birthday this year, according to one computer-security group.

Finland-based F-Secure said that the first boost sector virus, Brian, was found in January 1986 and infected computers via floppy disks.

Infection through floppy disks was common from 1986 to 1995 but was limited in scope as to the damage it could do as it was done only through shared disks.

"As email became more widespread, so followed email worms and individual worms which reached global epidemic levels in just one day. Most notable in this connection was one of the very first emails worms, Loveletter aka ILOVEYOU, which caused widespread havoc and financial loss in 1999 before it was brought under control," F-Secure said in a news release.

"Certainly the most significant change has been the evolution of virus writing hobbyists into criminally operated gangs bent on financial gain," said F-Secure's Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen. "And this trend is showing no signs of stopping," he added.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Citation: Happy 20th birthday to the computer virus (2006, January 19) retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2006-01-happy-20th-birthday-virus.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Mothers and children have their birthday in the same month more often than you'd think—and here's why
0 shares

Feedback to editors
Load comments (0)