{"id":2832,"date":"2019-05-09T09:05:50","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T21:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geeksonwheels.co.nz\/?p=2832"},"modified":"2024-01-26T15:26:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T02:26:55","slug":"famouscomputervirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Famous Computer Viruses In History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A computer virus can be reasonably harmless, simply reducing your computer\u2019s performance or displaying joke messages. Others have gotten way out of hand. Early on, even the most widespread viruses were reasonably harmless, simply the handiwork of bored geeks who wanted to see what they could do. As time went on, authors started using viruses to extort money from people. Governments used them to attack foreign countries\u2019 computer infrastructure. Let\u2019s take a look at some of the worst computer viruses in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Computer Virus Melissa: Don\u2019t be fooled by the name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>First of all it all started with a Microsoft Word document upload on the 26th of March 1999. This upload was to a newsgroup on a website called Usenet. Its creator, David Smith, had been tracking the rise of a new kind of virus which could spread itself via e-mail. His own iteration, <em>Melissa<\/em>, was not the first, but it took e-mail viruses to previously unseen heights. It came in an e-mail with the subject line \u201cimportant message from [name]\u201d and contained a small Word document. Furthermore when opened, it overrode Word\u2019s security safeguards and also sent itself to the first 50 contacts in the user\u2019s Outlook address book. Microsoft was forced to shut down all incoming e-mail company-wide as it spread like wildfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/enterprise\/en-us\/security-awareness\/ransomware\/what-is-stuxnet.html\">Stuxnet<\/a>: Cyberwarfare comes to the fore<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 90s, viruses like <em>Melissa<\/em> were annoying, but ultimately were not that malicious. Fast forward ten years and the circumstances had drastically changed. First of all uncovered in 2010, a virus called <em>Stuxnet<\/em> was propagating itself through computer systems. This also controlled industrial machinery, causing irreparable harm and disruption. Furthermore it was a marksman\u2019s virus; only a very specific set of industrial computers running certain software. The German company Siemens were affected. For this reason, it is widely believed that the virus was a joint U.S.-Israeli cyberattack to disrupt Iran\u2019s nuclear program. Which it did, as almost 60% of the infected computers were in that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Computer Virus&nbsp;WannaCry: A malicious get-rich-quick scheme<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, malicious viruses were also evolving to affect personal computers. The U.S. National Security Agency developed an exploit for Microsoft Windows named EternalBlue. Which allowed them to install malware on computers overseas. A computer virus which encrypts your files, denying access to them until a payment is made to a specified account. That is what WannaCry did. Unfortunately for them, it was stolen and used for a massive ransomware attack in 2017 called <em>WannaCry<\/em>. Ransomware is a name for&nbsp; &#8211; in this case, a bitcoin wallet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>North Korea was also believed to be behind the attack according to U.S. Government, United Kingdom and Australia. Europol estimated that 200,000 computers across 150 countries were affected. Around $150,000 worth of payments were made to the account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">CryptoLocker: Hitting the jackpot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>WannaCry<\/em> was disruptive, causing major shutdowns to organisations like Britain\u2019s National Health Service. However, the money the authors made was comparatively low. That was not the case for another major ransomware attack in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>CryptoLocker<\/em>, a trojan that targeted computers running on Microsoft Windows, spread itself via an e-mail which contained a .exe file attachment which had its icon changed to make it look like a more harmless .pdf document. Finally once opened, it encrypted the user\u2019s files and demanded payment in the form of bitcoin or a prepaid cash voucher. It was an unprecedented success for the authors, managing to extort around $3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Avoid computer viruses and malware with Geeks on Wheels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Our expert team can come to you! We offer <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.geeksonwheels.co.nz\/services\/\">virus removal<\/a><\/u> and <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.geeksonwheels.co.nz\/about\/\">virus cleaner<\/a><\/u> services as well as other general services that can improve your computer\u2019s health and performance &#8211; and stop you getting affected by malicious software. Stay safe &#8211; <u><a href=\"\thttps:\/\/www.geeksonwheels.co.nz\/contact-geeks-on-wheels\/\">get in touch<\/a><\/u> to protect yourself and your data today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A computer virus can be reasonably harmless, simply reducing your computer\u2019s performance or displaying joke messages. Others have gotten way out of hand. Early on, even the most widespread viruses were reasonably harmless, simply the handiwork of bored geeks who wanted to see what they could do. As time went on, authors started using viruses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-safety"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Most Famous Computer Viruses In History - Geeks on Wheels<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Much like the real-world equivalent, a computer virus that get out of hand can cause a lot of damage. Learn about some of the historically worst here.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Most Famous Computer Viruses In History - Geeks on Wheels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Much like the real-world equivalent, a computer virus that get out of hand can cause a lot of damage. Learn about some of the historically worst here.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Geeks on Wheels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeeksOnWheels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-08T21:05:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-26T02:26:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/52.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cathy Empson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Geeks_Tweet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Geeks_Tweet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cathy Empson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cathy Empson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/person\/5fb8e2521ea94ebfaf4d9c4ed182f6a8\"},\"headline\":\"Most Famous Computer Viruses In History\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-08T21:05:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-26T02:26:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/\"},\"wordCount\":640,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Security &amp; Safety\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/\",\"name\":\"Most Famous Computer Viruses In History - Geeks on Wheels\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-08T21:05:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-26T02:26:55+00:00\",\"description\":\"Much like the real-world equivalent, a computer virus that get out of hand can cause a lot of damage. Learn about some of the historically worst here.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/\",\"name\":\"Geeks on Wheels\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Geeks on Wheels\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/logo-tech.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/logo-tech.png\",\"width\":480,\"height\":80,\"caption\":\"Geeks on Wheels\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeeksOnWheels\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Geeks_Tweet\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/person\/5fb8e2521ea94ebfaf4d9c4ed182f6a8\",\"name\":\"Cathy Empson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af9059b25663f501d8fb73d3f28df660c3669487f435e4a735ec19d11ce1ca08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af9059b25663f501d8fb73d3f28df660c3669487f435e4a735ec19d11ce1ca08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cathy Empson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/author\/cathy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Most Famous Computer Viruses In History - Geeks on Wheels","description":"Much like the real-world equivalent, a computer virus that get out of hand can cause a lot of damage. Learn about some of the historically worst here.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Most Famous Computer Viruses In History - Geeks on Wheels","og_description":"Much like the real-world equivalent, a computer virus that get out of hand can cause a lot of damage. Learn about some of the historically worst here.","og_url":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/","og_site_name":"Geeks on Wheels","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeeksOnWheels","article_published_time":"2019-05-08T21:05:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-26T02:26:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/52.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Cathy Empson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Geeks_Tweet","twitter_site":"@Geeks_Tweet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cathy Empson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/"},"author":{"name":"Cathy Empson","@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/person\/5fb8e2521ea94ebfaf4d9c4ed182f6a8"},"headline":"Most Famous Computer Viruses In History","datePublished":"2019-05-08T21:05:50+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-26T02:26:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/"},"wordCount":640,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Security &amp; Safety"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/","url":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/","name":"Most Famous Computer Viruses In History - Geeks on Wheels","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-05-08T21:05:50+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-26T02:26:55+00:00","description":"Much like the real-world equivalent, a computer virus that get out of hand can cause a lot of damage. Learn about some of the historically worst here.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/security-safety\/famouscomputervirus\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/","name":"Geeks on Wheels","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#organization","name":"Geeks on Wheels","url":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/logo-tech.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/logo-tech.png","width":480,"height":80,"caption":"Geeks on Wheels"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GeeksOnWheels","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Geeks_Tweet"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/person\/5fb8e2521ea94ebfaf4d9c4ed182f6a8","name":"Cathy Empson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af9059b25663f501d8fb73d3f28df660c3669487f435e4a735ec19d11ce1ca08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/af9059b25663f501d8fb73d3f28df660c3669487f435e4a735ec19d11ce1ca08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cathy Empson"},"url":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/author\/cathy\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/52.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16630,"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions\/16630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geeksonwheels.co.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}