What is the most dangerous computer virus in the world?
The most dangerous computer virus in the world is the WannaCry virus. This virus infected more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries in May of 2017. The WannaCry virus encrypted computer files and demanded a ransom be paid in order to decrypt the files. This virus caused billions of dollars in damage and was particularly dangerous because it exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows that had been previously disclosed by the National Security Agency.
What is the origin of the most dangerous computer virus?
As soon as computers became commonplace, people began finding ways to use them for nefarious purposes. One of the earliest and most famous computer viruses was created in the 1970s by a teenage hacker named John Draper. Draper discovered that he could use a simple tone generator to mimic the signals that the long-distance telephone network used to route calls. This allowed him to make free long-distance calls by tricking the network into thinking his computer was a telephone.
Draper eventually figured out how to automate the process of making these calls and began selling his software, which he called “Computer Dialing Code.” Unfortunately, this software also had a malicious side effect: it would copy itself onto any floppy disk that was inserted into an infected computer. This allowed the virus to spread quickly from one machine to another, and it wasn’t long before Draper’s phone hacking software had infected thousands of computers around the world.
While “Computer Dialing Code” was certainly a nuisance, it didn’t do any real damage to the computers it infected. However, it did pave the way for future viruses that would be much more destructive. In 1986, a virus known as “Brain” became the first to cause serious damage to computers. Brain was created by two Pakistani brothers, Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi, who ran a computer store in Lahore.
Brain was spread via infected floppy disks, and once it infected a machine it would replicate itself and infect any other floppy disks that were inserted into that computer. The virus would also display a message on the infected computer’s screen that claimed the virus was created by the “Brain Computer Services” in an effort to stop piracy. This message was meant to trick people into thinking the virus was benign, but the reality was that Brain was a very destructive piece of malware.
The virus would corrupt any software that was run on an infected machine, and it would also delete any files that were copied to an infected floppy disk. This made it very difficult for people to using infected computers, and in some cases Brain would render a machine completely unusable. As the virus spread, it caused millions of dollars in damage to businesses and individuals around the world.
The Brain virus was eventually brought under control after the Pakistani brothers who created it were arrested and the virus’ code was made public. However, this did not stop other virus creators from usingBrain as a template for future malware. In the years since, many more viruses have been created that are far more dangerous and destructive than Brain.
One of the most notorious examples is the “ILOVEYOU” virus, which was first released in 2000. ILOVEYOU was created by a Filipino computer engineer named Onel de Guzman, who was working on a project to create a program that would send love letters to people’s screensavers. Unfortunately, de Guzman’s code had a flaw that allowed the virus to spread much like Brain did – by replicating itself and infecting any floppy disks or emails that were sent to an infected machine.
ILOVEYOU quickly spread around the world, infecting millions of computers in just a few days. The virus caused an estimated $10 billion in damage, making it one of the most destructive computer viruses of all time. While ILOVEYOU was a very destructive virus, it was eventually brought under control and de Guzman was arrested.
Unfortunately, there have been many more viruses created since ILOVEYOU, and each one seems to be more sophisticated and dangerous than the last. As long as there are people with malicious intent, it seems likely that new and dangerous computer viruses will continue to be created.
Visit malwarezero.org to learn more about the most dangerous computer virus. Disclaimer: We used this website as a reference for this blog post.