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20 Years of Computer Viruses
Tuxedo Jack writes "The Register reports that twenty years ago today (19 January 1986), the first computer virus, Brain, was discovered. By modern standards, this was a minor virus, and it spread by floppy disks, which is a far cry from the network-aware worms of today. Still, though, it was the first noted virus, and we've had twenty years of pain and annoyance from it and its successors. Happy birthday, Brain, you and all your little virus friends - just know we're doing our damndest to keep you from having more."
"Happy birthday, Brain, you and all your little virus friends - just know we're doing our damndest to keep you from having more."
Good luck. You'll need it, 'cause selection pressure tends to win.
create a crisis and provide means of solving the crisis for a nice fee.
:430791,443248,280530.
Welcome to the Dungeon
(c) 1986 Basit & Amjad (pvt) Ltd.
BRAIN COMPUTER SERVICES
730 NIZAB BLOCK ALLAMA IQBAL TOWN
LAHORE-PAKISTAN
PHONE
Beware of this VIRUS....
Contact us for vaccination............ $#@%$@!!
can we be sure the same thing isn't happening today at say... symantec?
You can't handle the truth.
Not the first virus. It's the first PC virus, meaning IBM PC running DOS.
The article calls it a PC virus, maybe you should read them sometimes.
there are only OS viruses. this is an important distinction in modern times when the term "computer virus" is used when 99.999999*% of the time the correct term would be "Microsoft Windows virus". more generally it promotes a misunderstanding to the public that viruses are a feature of computers themselves rather than particular computer configurations.
*recurring decimals not shown
The only thing outlandish is calling programs that require the user to explicitly execute "viruses". Virus that exploits the email preview pane to execute without user knowledge? Sure, virus. Virus that makes remote calls to a vulnerability in an Outlook COM object? Sure, virus. Virus that relies on a user to click OmG_R34LNuD3P1c5_Br17n3y5p33rS.jpg.exe? No, not a virus.
Main reason being there's no real need. There's enough assholes out there betweek immature assholes looking to cause trouble and greedy assholes looking to use systems for spam and such that there's just no lack of viruses.
Remember that if they were doing such a thing they'd face extreme criminal charges when caught, and make no mistake, they would be caught. There's a lot of anti-virus companies out there, and a lot of security researchers. Sooner or later, I'd be diacovered they were the source and then they'd be fucked.
You don't take risks like that if there's no reason. Ten viruses per year being released would be plenty to ensure your continued existance, since it only takes one nasty one to remind people your software is valuable. Given the thousands that are released, there's no reason to put yourself at risk making more.
Macro Viruses, e-mails, Melissa, Blaster... what do they have in common, kids?
"Microsoft products!"
Well done, kids! You get an extra point today!
So the fuck what.
This is year 22 of me using a Microsoft OS...virus free.
The most important component for virus protection is the one sitting between the chair and the keyboard. Everything else (including OS choice) is largely irrelevant.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
If you start being picky over "worm" and "virus" naming, you should also use "trojan horse" instead of "trojans"...
Because the "trojans" are those dump users who open and run every attachment the can get a hold on!
Really? You and all your friends and family are running something other than MS Windows then I take it? ;-)
Yes, I know viruses are technically able to happen in any environment, but practically speaking, how many non-MS-specific viruses (not worms) are currently in the wild for non-MS platforms?
Thank you for making that point. Too many people are all too willing to jump on the 'blame microsoft' bandwagon over security. Fact is that at the moment, crackers and other malicious computer users move faster than computer security does, so they're always at least half a step ahead of the game. When the Romans invented the pilum, they didn't make the tip break on impact straight away so it couldn't be thrown back, it took the barbarians to throw it back first before it became necessary. I've been using free (and I mean legitimately free) antivirus software for years now, and Windows for all of those years. I have only ever had a virus on my computer once, and that was when I had to go online to get the anti-virus software. A Windows PC, properly maintained, is every bit as secure as a Linux/IRIX/Solaris/BSD/Mac/etc. system - it takes a special kind of ignorance to haphazardly open up your computer to malicious files so much.
A block of code, sufficiently well-written, is indistinguishable from magick.
For 40 years IBM made computers that were pretty robust. The o/s memory and files were in a privileged part of the machine and out of the reach of ANY user. Why can't we do this with pc's?
Of course we can. You just have to let the industry install this nice tamper-proof chip into your computer, disallowing low-level access from all software that is not expressly approved by Microsoft, RIAA or MPAA. You just have to give up your own access to low-level software, because that is not be allowed by any of the aforementioned authorities. You don't have anything against all this, right? Right?
>THE PLURAL OF VIRUS IS _NOT_ VIRI OR VIRII! Its viruses.
THE CONTRACTED FORM OF "IT IS" IS _NOT_ ITS!
It is = it's. You should learn this before correcting others with dictionary definitions.