A computer virus, much like a flu virus, is a type of malicious software program known as “malware” that, when executed spread from host to host, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs. When succeeds, the affected areas of the system is then said to be “infected” with a computer virus. In this article, we will consider top 10 deadly computer virus
10. Nimda –
Nimda was released on September 18, 2001, it’s a very dangerous virus. Nimda has the power to attack your server vulnerabilities, shared folders, e-mail and file transfer and It will take just 22 minutes for the virus to penetrate any computer. This forced many people to believe that Nimda is a Cyber Terror attack base on its abilities. The main purpose of this computer virus was to slow down the internet traffic.
9. Conficker –
Conficker is otherwise known as Downadup. It was discovered in November 2009, since that time it has affected as many as fifteen million Microsoft Windows operating systems around the world. It was very difficult to detect this particular virus unless you keep your system’s patches up to date by running an upgrade version of original anti-virus. The virus might penetrate your system through your removable drives like hard disks, smartphones, and other thumb drives so that when the device is attached to another computer, the virus spread from there.
8. Storm Worm –
The Storm Worm was designed to strike the cyber world as a malicious Trojan horse and this started in 2006 those that were using computers start receiving e-mails with a subject line “230 dead as storm batters Europe.” this was the greatest and sophisticated cyber fraud networks ever constructed. Users were tricked into clicking the fake links in an e-mail that was infected by the virus which easily turns any Windows PC into a botnet. In 2007 it was estimated that this dangerous malware-infected PCs close to 10 million.
7. CIH –
This virus was very destructive just like a parasite. it was first discovered in Taiwan and quickly became one of the most destructive and dangerous worms that ever corrupt data. The virus infected windows 95 and 98 executable. files and also eat up the system memory. Once the virus is activated, it damages the data on your disk by overwriting the computer’s Flash BIOS chip, rendering the chip useless unless the BIOS chip is reprogrammed without that it will impossible to boot the system again.
6. Melissa –
On March 26, 1999. Melissa became the first mass-mailing macro virus. The damage caused by this virus was estimated at 300 to 600 million dollars. the largest internet manhunt ever was launch so as to get rid of the author of Melissa, David L.smith.He was finally arrested an sentenced 20 months in federal prison for the unleashing of the fastest virus of its time and was ordered to pay a fine of $5000.The virus was very powerful and destructive it was sent as an email attachment “list.doc” and when once the email is clicked open it starts spreading.
5. SQL Slammer –
SQL Slammer is also known as “Sapphire” a standalone malicious program which comes into existent at the starting of the year 2003. The first virus that quickly destroys more than 75000 vulnerable hosts on 25th January within10 minutes.SQL Slammer gradually slow down global internet traffic and brought down South Korea’s online system in about 12 hours, he did this by generating random IP addresses and sending the virus to those IP addresses,this release has a huge impact on the services provided by Bank of America’s ATMs, Continental airlines and Seattle’s 911 emergency response systems
4. Code Red –
This particular computer virus is commonly referred to as “Code Red” and was unleashed on 13 July 2013 on the network server, a tricky virus which took advantage of the Microsoft Internet Information Server. It was detected by two of the eye-digital security employees while they were drinking Code Red Mountain Dew.No wonder the worm is called Code Red. It does not wait to open an e-mail attachment, once you have an active internet connection you are gone. In less than a week this Code Red short down more than 400,000 servers including the White House web server. It has estimated that the damages caused by code red were approximately $2.6 billion dollars and about 1million computers being hit by this virus.
3. Sobig F –
on August 2003 the Sobig series hit the internet of the domestic and corporate computer operators around the world, it was very miserable and destructive. The virus penetrates into the host of the computer claiming that the e-mail they received was from a genuine source and as the users open the attachment e-mail the virus spread into the user’s e-mail address. It took the virus the next 24 hours to intrude and duplicate it self-more than one million copies, this virus infected over 2 million PCs worldwide, causing an extensive damage of $3 billion – $4 billion.
2. ILOVEYOU –
Back in Philippines 4th May 2000, the trickiest computer malware ever was detected. About 10% of the internet users were been infected by this huge hazardous worm. The virus trick humans emotion of the need to be love which it becomes a global problem in only one night by transmitting through an e-mail attachment with the subject line “ILOVEYOU” and as soon as this file is open it takes the advantage of e-mailing itself to the 1st 50 contact present in the Windows address book. The multimedia files saved in the system was also infected causing damages that amounted to $5.5 billion.
1. My Doom –
On 26th January 2004, my Doom virus also known as “Novarg” explored its way to the malware world. It scattered the user’s system by sending random addresses and subject lines through e-mail and is said to be the most dangerous virus ever, outranking the Sobig F worm, it infected about 2million computers and smashed the cyber world for some time. my Doom virus transmitted itself through an e-mail and what the receiver first recognize is a bounced error message saying “Mail Transaction Failed.” But the moment the mail is clicked open it spread. The damage caused by this virus was estimated to $38 billion.
