What is the most deadly computer virus in existence?
There are many contenders for the most deadly computer virus in existence. However, two stand out above the rest: Stuxnet and flame.
Stuxnet is a virus that was specifically designed to target and sabotage industrial equipment. It is believed to have been created by the United States and Israel in order to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. The virus was successful in infecting and causing significant damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Flame is a virus that was discovered in 2012. It is notable for its size (20 MB) and its sophistication. Flame is believed to have been created by the United States, Israel, and possibly other countries in order to conduct espionage against Iran.
Both Stuxnet and Flame are deadly viruses that have caused extensive damage. While it is difficult to determine which is the most deadly, both have demonstrated their destructive potential.
How did the most deadly computer virus get its start?
The first computer virus, called “Creeper,” was created in the early 1970s by a young programmer names Bob Thomas. Creeper was designed as a harmless experiment to see if he could write a self-replicating program. This program would copy itself from one computer to another and then display a message that said, “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” Unfortunately, Thomas didn’t include a way to stop the program from spreading, and it quickly got out of control. Another programmer, Ray Tomlinson, eventually created a “killer” program called “Reaper” that was able to remove Creeper from infected computers.
With the advent of the internet in the 1980s, computer viruses began to spread much more easily. In 1988, a grad student named Robert T. Morris created a virus that spread itself by taking advantage of a flaw in Unix, a popular computer operating system. This virus, called the “Morris Worm,” ended up infecting more than 6,000 computers. Morris was later fined and sentenced to probation for his role in creating the virus.
In the 1990s, the “Melissa” virus became one of the first viruses to spread via email. This virus would infect a computer and then send itself out to the first 50 people in the victim’s email address book. The “Love Letter” or “I Love You” virus followed a similar pattern in 2000, infecting millions of computers and causing billions of dollars in damage.
More recently, the “Mydoom” virus became the fastest-spreading email virus in history, infecting more than 1 million computers in just a few days. The “Conficker” virus also caused major damage, infecting more than 10 million computers by taking advantage of a flaw in the Windows operating system.
These days, there are thousands of different types of computer viruses, and new ones are popping up all the time. Many of these viruses are created by criminals who are looking to steal personal information or money. Thankfully, there are also many good people working hard to create antivirus software that can protect our computers from these bad actors.
Visit malwarezero.org to learn more about most deadly computer virus. Disclaimer: We used this website as a reference for this blog post.