Viruses are malicious soft wares that get
transmitted to our personal computer systems and corrupt or critically damage
the data present within. Viruses are equally capable of manipulating the confidential
files and documents present inside the device and result in huge jeopardy of
the user’s privacy and cyber experience. These fraudulent soft wares are mainly
designed by cyber criminals who gain unrestricted access into the devices
infected with viruses to detriment the programs present there and impose a
grave threat to the cybersecurity of the concerned user.
Earlier, viruses could mainly be passed on
through external hardware devices like Compact Disks that were circulated by
notorious hackers and spammers to invade the privacy of the users. But, with
the introduction of portable sources of networks like modems and USB, viruses
are easily transmitted online through corrupted web links and web pages, false
web advertisements, spam emails, etc. Once a user enters a web page
encompassing virus and downloads any application pertaining to the same, his
system is immediately infested with malware and can hence be ventured by the
developers of that malware program, unless protected. Such unauthorized access
to cybercriminals fetches hazardous implications for the owner of the computer
device.
Here’s a statistic showing the impact of
the most vicious viruses of all time:-
Source:
Google
Which
is the most dangerous computer virus of all time?
Time and again, a bewildering variety of
soft wares carrying malware have been discovered by cyber experts to have
irrevocably damaged the data present in a computer system. Ever since the
advent of the internet, the virus Melissa was the first of its kind to get
communicated via fraudulent e-mails. Melissa was developed by David L. Smith
and circulated in March 1999 as a series of emails with attachment. The
attachments would come with a subject like “Here is that document you
asked for, don’t show it to anybody else.”It would then replicate itself
into several copies and automatically forwarded to the first 50 recipients of
the user’s Outlook Address Book. This virus was mainly designed to wreck the
workings of the US Government via the internet network. Soon, FBI could trace
down the developer Smith and come up with necessary antivirus codes that
eliminated the further transmission of this online worm. Melissa, although
short-lived, was one of the first kind of viruses to cause a stir on the
internet and among its users.
Following the journey of Melissa, various
other viruses witnessed their emergence. But, statistics over the years are to
be believed; the ILOVEYOU virus remains the most destructive form of an online
worm to be ever created.
About
the ILOVEYOU virus application:-
Internet was compelled to be a habitat for
viruses through the delivery of attached applications with duplicate emails. ILOVEYOU
emerged just a year after Melissa had infected several computer systems through
negligent online surfing and receiving of spam attachments via email.
Source:
Google
ILOVEYOU was designed in the Philippines during the year
2000. The alleged owner of this software application was a person named Onel de
Guzman. This form of the virus was much more advanced than its predecessor that
it could replicate several copies of itself and its malicious codes. It came as
an attachment to an email that had the subject “I LOVE YOU” written on it. The
hoax created to convey this virus was a love letter from a secret admirer. The
attachment in the ILOVEYOU virus was a VBScript file. VBScript is basically a
code that can be executed by Windows or Internet Explorer via the window-based
script host. Attachments containing the ILOVEYOU virus came under the format of
‘vbs.exe’ with an email. This attachment, if downloaded, would further permit
the hackers to have direct access to the recipient’s Microsoft Outlook Contact
Information. It would then duplicate its copies and forward the same files to
every contact received from the user’s Outlook contact book. Entering a
computer system, it would then terminate every file present under the formats
of – JPG, MP3, VPOS, JS, JSE, CSS, WSH, SCT and HTA. It would then be
impossible for the user to recover these files if he had no backup of the same
beforehand.
Furthermore, this virus would reset the saved pages of
Internet Explorer and Windows Web Browser so that the users could not get hold
of their saved information for a second time.
Here’s a brief summary of the various threats the
ILOVEYOU virus had caused with its occurrence:
• It replicated
itself into various copies and transferred such those copies into the different
folders present in the computer’s documents.
• It spammed the
user’s registry keys with similar such copies causing a breach in his security.
• It created
different kinds of files with similar malware codes and replaced the other
important files present in the user’s desktop with the harmful ones.
• It arranged
for the conveyance of its duplicate files through the earlier chat network
called “Relay Chat” and its different users as well as to several recipients
via email attachments.
• It downloaded
a similar fraudulent file called ‘WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE’ into the user’s system. This
file rather than its claim of fixing bugs would steal important passwords and
email confidential information to the cybercriminals. The criminals would
further have the tendency to blackmail the owners, especially those who run a
large scale business, of leaking the information in exchange for ransom.
ILOVEYOU had such a massive effect over the internet that
leading companies had to shut down their email services, including the
well-known Ford Motor Company.
To combat further transmission of this virus, companies
warned their employees and another user’s to refrain from downloading email
attachments with similar subjects. Hackers never gave in to this technique.
They discovered other forms of subjects to circulate the virus continuously
among the masses. Examples include – “HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY”, “JOKE” and
ironically “VIRUS ALERT – DOWNLOAD TO PROTECT YOUR FILES”
Following the footsteps of ILOVEYOU, hackers found
several techniques and developed other soft wares with similar advanced
features to impose a threat into the security of files and programs present
within a computer system. Some of the perilous substitutes of ILOVEYOU include
CODE RED, My Doom Worm, and Stutnex Worm, etc.
Statistics showing
virus distribution over years. (Source – Google)
Companies
providing security solutions against cybercrime hence started developing antivirus
soft wares to account for a solution to this issue. These antivirus soft wares
are capable of detecting files containing malware and then erasing them from
the device to help protect the surfing experience of users online and their
privacy offline.
