Our computers are much like our human bodies; they get sick from viruses. However, a computer virus is a program developed by a programmer to prevent you from accessing our computers, having unauthorized access to your computer and steal your private information, and in some instances just to piss us off. Whatever the reasons the developers of computer viruses are, one thing is sure, we entrust much information on our computers; it is a source of entertainment and a crucial tool for our business.
That being said, we should always ensure that our computers have an antivirus with the latest virus engines updates. Think of antivirus as your body’s immune system against diseases. Today, WBG Wireless, the best cell phone repair shop in Morrow and surrounding are, is going to highlight the top 10 all-time deadliest computer viruses to have hit a massive network computers around the world.
#10 – Nimda
This computer virus was first reported back on September 18, 2001, and quickly rose to the top of the deadliest virus as soon as it surfaced. The name ‘Nimda’ is the word ‘Admin’ spelled backward. Now, for those who have connected this yet, Nimda was launched exactly a week after the 9/11 terrorist attack in the USA, which made many people think that Nimda was a Cyber Terror attack. When the virus infected a system, it took just 22 minutes for it to propagate itself through four different mediums; emails, shared folders, file transfer, and server vulnerabilities. The virus was programmed to seriously slow down internet traffic, through denial-in-service attacks.
#9 – Conficker
Conficker also referred to as Downup, Downadup and Kido first appeared in 2009 and infected about 15 million Windows PCs around the world. It did all these without human intervention by exploiting a flaw in the Windows system. The Conficker virus is a very difficult virus to detect especially if the host PC is not running an upgraded version of the original anti-virus or anti-malware protection. It spreads through removable drives like USB sticks, hard drives, and smartphones. By adding a corrupt file to the removable drives so that when attached to another uninfected computer, the AutoPlay dialog box displays an additional option. Conficker comes with an army of zombies designed to steal personal information and financial data from your system.
#8 – Storm Worm
Storm Worm made cyber news headlines in late 2006. Working as a malicious Trojan horse, the program first infected host PCs when the users received emails with the subject line “230 dead as storm batters Europe.” Strom Worm proved to be one of the most sophisticated and biggest cyber fraud networks to be created. Users were tricked into clicking fake links sent via emails, and by doing so the virus infected Windows PCs turning them into botnets that allowed an intruder to send spam emails remotely across the internet. By January 2006, Storm Worm was estimated to have infected 10 million PCs around the world.
#7 - CIH
CIH was a highly destructive and parasitic virus, also known as Chernobyl virus. It was first reported in 1998 in Taiwan and quickly spread to become one of the most deadly computer viruses yet. The CIH virus infected data on PCs running Windows 95 and 98 executable files. After infecting a host, it remained a resident in the machine’s memory where it continued infecting other executable programs. Upon infecting a host PC, the virus would annihilate data on the hard drive and overwrite the PC’s Flash BIOS chip making it completely inoperable. Users would not be able to boot their machine ever again unless they reprogrammed the chip first. With all the computer security technology advancement and user awareness, this virus no longer poses such level of a threat today. However, we can never take it lightly that it managed to cause about $250 million worth of destruction.
#6 – Melissa
The Melissa virus was the first mass-mailing macro virus of the new age of emailing that made breaking news headlines around the word on March 26, 1999. This virus is estimated to have caused $300-$600 million in damages and prompted the FBI to launch perhaps the greatest manhunt on the internet. The authorities arrested of David L. Smith, whom they believed was the author of Melissa. Smith unleashed the fastest virus of its time and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment; serving only 20 months in prison and paid a fine of $5,000. The virus spread through email attachments, which when opened by the user. It sought out Microsoft Outlook addresses in the host PC and emailed itself to the first 50 contacts on the list. The email sent out has the subject line, “Here is that document you asked for…don’t show anyone else. ;-)”
#5 - SQL Slammer
This was a standalone malicious program also referred to as “Sapphire,” and first reported in 2003. It was a fileless worm that infected over 75,000 vulnerable PCs within 10 minutes on January 25th. SQL Slammer worked using the classical denial-of-service tactic and was successful in drastically slowing down the internet speed across the world. South Korea was the worst hit parts of the world, bringing the country online services to its knees for nearly 12 hours. The virus worked by mainly targeting servers and generating random IP addresses and discharging worms to the generated IP addresses. The quick release of infected network packets significantly compromised the services of Bank of America’s ATMs, Continental Airlines and the Seattle’s 911 emergency response service. The total lost productivity caused by this worm was estimated to be somewhere between $950 million to $1.2 billion. The figures could have been higher had the virus been deployed on any other day of the week than on Saturday, when most business were not operating.
#4 – Code Red
Unleashed on July 13, 2014, the computer worm, Code Red infected network servers and exploited a particular flaw in the Microsoft Internet Information Server. This sneaky virus was first detected by two eEye Digital Security employees, who at the time of this discovery were drinking Code Red Mountain Dew, thus named the virus ‘Code Red.’ What made Code Red very lethal is that it did not require the user to open any email attachment or run any file. By simply having an active internet connection, it would deface any web page a user opened and displayed the text string “Hacked by Chinese!” The virus was able to bring down about 400,000 servers in less than a week, including the web server at the White House. It also caused about $2.6 billion worth of damage as it infected over one million computers worldwide.
#3 – Sobig-F
For many corporate and domestic computer owners around the world, August 2013 was a very difficult month. The 6th and the most destructive deviant of the Sobig series was released. It fooled users into opening a corrupt email, by tricking them into believing the email is from a legitimate source. If a user opened the email attachment, it opened a loophole in the system’s security that allowed intruders to send messages using the user’s trapped email address. Within 24 hours, the virus was able to set a new record of virus replication by replicating over one million times. The Sobig-F virus record was later broken by another massive mailer worm called My Doom. Damages amounting to between $3 billion - $4 billion were recorded, and the virus infected more than 2 million PCs worldwide.
#2 – I LOVE YOU
ILOVEYOU is another very interesting computer virus that preyed on PC users by enticing them using one of the strongest human emotions; the need to be loved. This tricky malware was first reported on May 4, 2000 in Philippines. The virus became an overnight worldwide pandemic, and was transmitted via email with the subject line ‘ILOVEYOU’. This headline proved to be very enticing to many recipients. Most of whom went ahead and opened the email and its attachment file named Love-Letter-For-You.TXT.vbs. When a user opened the attachment, the virus infected their system and emailed itself the first 50 contacts in user’s Windows address book. The virus also affected multimedia files inside the user’s local system. Total damage caused by the virus was estimated to be around $5.5 billion.
#1 My Doom
My Doom was first reported on January 26, 2004, and had a tidal wave of destruction across the world. It propagated itself through emails sent via random users’ addresses and different subject lines. It also became known as ‘Novarg’, said to be the most dangerous virus to have ever been created. It was worser than the Sobig-F virus mentioned above. The virus quickly infected over two million computers with a widespread denial-of-service attack that brought the cyberspace to its knees for a while. The virus transmitted itself in an extremely disguised manner via emails. It appeared to be a bounced email message that read, ‘Mail Transaction Failed’. When a user opened the email, the attachment within executed itself transferring the worm into other email contacts found in the address book of the user. My Doom caused a massive damage totaling to $38 billion.
There have been and probably still exist some highly malicious software out there. However, with the advent of mobile devices (tablets and smartphones), conventional desktop PCs and laptops are not the only target. Your mobile devices are increasing becoming the mainstream medium for consuming digital content, online banking, storage of sensitive personal and company information. We at WBG Wireless have security experts that can patch up any security flaws in your desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
If you have been unfortunate enough to have suffered a computer virus attack, visit the WBG Wireless cell phone repair shop. Where our security experts and data recovery experts will advise you on what course of action is need to fix the situation.
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