The most dangerous computer virus ever: the story of the SQL Slammer virus
In January of 2003, a new and highly destructive computer virus began circulating on the internet. Named “SQL Slammer,” this virus quickly spread to tens of thousands of computers around the world, causing widespread disruption. In just a few hours, SQL Slammer caused so much congestion on the internet that it effectively shut down many online services, including many major websites.
SQL Slammer was a particularly insidious virus because it took advantage of a known security flaw in Microsoft’s SQL Server software. Once a computer was infected with SQL Slammer, the virus would start generating random IP addresses and send them requests for information. These requests would overload the server, effectively shutting it down.
In the wake of the SQL Slammer outbreak, Microsoft released a patch to fix the security flaw that the virus exploited. However, many computers were already infected and the damage had been done. SQL Slammer is widely considered to be the most destructive computer virus ever released. View Source
The most dangerous computer virus ever: the story of the Melissa virus
In the world of computer viruses, there are few that have caused as much havoc as the Melissa virus. Melissa was first detected in 1999 and quickly spread around the world, infecting hundreds of thousands of computers. The virus was so destructive that it caused an estimated $80 million in damage.
The Melissa virus was spread through email attachments. When someone opened the attachment, the virus would automatically send itself to the first 50 people in the victim’s address book. The email would look like it came from a friend or colleague, and often had a subject line that said “Important Message from …”. The virus would then infect the victim’s computer, Hogging the system resources and slowing it down to a crawl.
In some cases, the Melissa virus would delete files or even format the hard drive, making the computer unusable. The virus would also disable antivirus software, making it difficult to protect against.
The Melissa virus was written by a man named David L. Smith. He was eventually caught and sentenced to 20 months in prison. In the years since, Smith has claimed that he didn’t intend for the virus to cause so much damage.
Despite the havoc it caused, the Melissa virus was relatively easy to remove. However, the damage it inflicted was enough to make it one of the most feared viruses of all time.
Visit malwarezero.org to learn more about most dangerous computer virus ever. Disclaimer: We used this website as a reference for this blog post.