A computer virus is basically a code that is programmed to do some nasty things to your computer like stealing personal data, spamming, deleting files, hacking and many other illegal activities, which most of you may be dealing with regularly. Actually, those are like just programs created by pre-school kids compared to some other viruses that managed to make a critical impact around the world by destroying a lot of computers. This list contains five of those most dangerous computer viruses that we’ve encountered in the past few years.
1- Flame (Malware)
Recently discovered ‘Flame virus’ deserves the top spot of this list not because of the destruction it caused, only because of its’ complexity which gave a headache to even the best computer analysts in the world. Metro.uk claimed this as “Possibly the most dangerous computer virus ever created”, which attacked the Iranian nuclear program and few other government agencies in Sudan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Egypt. Windows PC’s were the most vulnerable against this virus and it was said to be even able to self-destruct to hide its’ identity. Many accused the US of developing this virus.
2- Storm Worm (Trojan Horse)
One of the most destructive viruses that made a damage of over 15 billion US dollars in 2006. It was named after the email which carried the virus titled “230 dead from the storm of Europe”. Once a computer was affected by this virus it was able to be controlled remotely and even distribute spam mail by creating a botnet. Current anti-virus softwares are now able to detect this virus easily but be careful when you open attachments in emails as this virus is still being delivered via different spam emails.
3- Code Red (Worm)
This virus attacked over 400,000 computers around the world in 2001 by taking advantage of the weaknesses in Microsoft IIS server. It was almost impossible to remove the virus even after the latest patches released for the operating system because the virus was able to re-infect the cleaned computers. This virus made a lot of computers slow down and shutdown repeatedly. Although it is no longer a threat to the world of computers.
4- ILoveYou (Worm)
Also known as Love Bug is a worm emerged from Philippines which affected over 50 million computer around the world by sending an email titled “I Love You”. It posed as a love letter and when opened it was able to replicate itself and re-send the same worm automatically to all the contacts of the user. It was said to have stole passwords and replace files with copies of the virus.
5- MyDoom (Worm)
Causing a damage of over $38 billion, MyDoom worm, AKA W32.Mydoom.A@mm worm even made the biggest search engines like Google to suffer as it affected the users in many ways. According to Symantec, when affected, this virus was able to create a backdoor to the computer. And even after removing it these backdoors have remained active for a long time. It managed to attack the computers by performing DOS (Denial of Service) attacks.
[Image Credit - Flickr User Don Hankins]
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Roshan Jerad Perera