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20 Years of Computer Viruses

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the spreading-the-news dept.

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."

5 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. Good luck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "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.

  2. perfect business model by roman_mir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    create a crisis and provide means of solving the crisis for a nice fee.

      Welcome to the Dungeon
      (c) 1986 Basit & Amjad (pvt) Ltd.
      BRAIN COMPUTER SERVICES
      730 NIZAB BLOCK ALLAMA IQBAL TOWN
      LAHORE-PAKISTAN
      PHONE :430791,443248,280530.
      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.
  3. I'd day it's pretty likely not by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  4. re: 20 Years of Computer Viruses by micrometer2003 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?

  5. Angry flower by mobby_6kl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >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.