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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."

26 of 278 comments (clear)

  1. Yay for viruses! by Jailbrekr · · Score: 4, Funny

    Thanks to the Blaster virus, I'm getting married in 2 days. See, viruses aren't all bad.

    --
    Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
  2. Sigh... by ryanr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not the first virus. It's the first PC virus, meaning IBM PC running DOS.

    1. Re:Sigh... by aarku · · Score: 4, Informative

      Indeed. At least back to 1981 on the Apple II. Or "Elk Cloner" in 1982 according to wikipedia.

  3. Message in the virus? by pvt_medic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    I wonder if anyone ever tried to look up these guys. Kind of blatent calling card if you ask me.

    --
    30% Troll, 50% Underrated, 10% Interesting
    Score:5, Troll
    1. Re:Message in the virus? by dotpavan · · Score: 5, Informative

      people did take them seriously, so seriously that they were interviewed by TIME, for more story, over to this link, but alas I think it was short-lived.. now they are kinda reduced to ISP and stuff

  4. first PC virus by dotpavan · · Score: 5, Informative
    quoting wikipedia: "A program called "Elk Cloner" is credited with being the first computer virus to appear "in the wild" -- that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created. Written in 1982 by Rich Skrenta, it attached itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread by floppy disk."

    And, "The first PC virus was a boot sector virus called (c)Brain, created in 1986 by two brothers, Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi, operating out of Lahore, Pakistan. The brothers reportedly created the virus to deter pirated copies of software they had written."

    1. Re:first PC virus by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 5, Funny

      The brothers reportedly created the virus to deter pirated copies of software they had written.

      Predecessor to the SONY rootkit!
      *ducks*

      --
      READY.
      PRINT ""+-0
    2. Re:first PC virus by eweu · · Score: 4, Funny

      See? Apples have always had innovations years before PCs.

      The only computer virus I've ever had was the WDEF virus. Disinfectant caught it right away. That was 1992, so I guess I'm too smug.

    3. Re:first PC virus by scdeimos · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh well, Sony won't be able to claim Prior Art.

    4. Re:first PC virus by glowworm · · Score: 5, Informative

      And... I believe the first network aware self propogating worm was the Morris worm (1998/11/02) meant to gague the size of the internet.

      I believe the third worm and the first on-purpose malicious network worm was Wank from October 1989. It attacked VAX machines running on DECNet, changing passwords and lol phoning all the people who had accounts to annoy them ;). Cert Wank Advisory CA-1989-04 ;)

      Earlier in 1988 there was the hi.com worm, but that was just a zombie. It was meant to send a Merry Christmas message to all infected users on 25 December 1988 ;)


      W O R M A G A I N S T N U C L E A R K I L L E R S
      Your System Has Been Officially WANKed
      You talk of times of peace for all, and then prepare for war.

      Someone might know of an earlier malicious network aware worm, but this is the first one I know of.

      --
      Orationem pulchram non habens, scribo ista linea in lingua Latina
  5. Happy Birthday, Virus! by pHatidic · · Score: 5, Funny

    I LOVE YOU

  6. Oh, really... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... it spread by floppy disks, which is a far cry from the network-aware worms of today.

    While a network virus could reach around the globe in a matter of seconds, floppy disk viruses were just as bad before networks and CDs became common. Not only did you have to scan your own hard drive, but each and every floppy disk if you didn't know where the virus came from. You often had to practice "safe computing" by asking if the floppy disk was scanned before you use it on your own machine.

    1. Re:Oh, really... by misleb · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What was cool about the floppy born virus is that it is easy for collectors to store. I knew I guy who had a big box full of infected floppies. Hundreds of em'. All labeled with the virus that was on them. Some had multiple viruses. Neat stuff.

      -matthew

      --
      "THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
  7. Viral Wartime... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you are getting married because of a viral outbreak, then it's simplest to just think of yourself as a virtual-wartime profiteer.

  8. Virus writers have been teching up for 20 years by patio11 · · Score: 4, Funny

    20 years ago: Beware of this VIRUS
    20 days ago: lol this is not a virus

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
  9. 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.
  10. 20 years of Windows, too! by freeweed · · Score: 4, Funny

    Windows is also 20 years old, give or take a couple of months.

    Laugh, it's a joke. Windows wasn't even natively network aware until 10 years later :)

    --
    Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
  11. I recall... by Velox_SwiftFox · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When one media pundit was being subjected to derision because of his outlandish idea that viruses might be spread by email.

  12. 20 years! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Coincidently, it was twenty years ago today that my first sexually transmiteed virus, Herpes, was discovered. Compared to today's potential bird flu, its a minor virus, and like Brain, it spread by my "floppy disk" (as I like to call it). Still, though, it was my first noted virus, and I've had twenty years of pain and annoyance from it and its many successors. Happy birthday, Herpes, you and all your little virus friends - just know I'm doing my damndest to keep myself from having more.

  13. Worm verses Virus by Beave · · Score: 5, Informative

    It uses to be that "worm" != "virus". Now days, it seems, many people call just about everything a "virus", when in fact, the "more proper definition" would be worm. Or, maybe I'm just being an old fart about this. It's pretty simple. If it is a _standalone_ program meant to infect machines, then it would be considered a "worm". If the malicous program where to "infect" other programs (say - via .exe, .com infector or MBR), it's a "virus". That is, a "virus" will actually "attach" itself to a existing program (old com/exe infectors for eaxmple) or load themselves into the MBR/boot records. Then again, I see very obvious "trojans" get called "viruses!!!" all the time as well. Oh well :)

  14. Gee, Brain. What do you want to do tonight? by Bimkins · · Score: 5, Funny

    The same thing we do every night, Pinky, try to infect the world!

    --



    If you smoke after sex, you're doing it too fast.
  15. Scientific American by michaelmalak · · Score: 4, Informative
    This 1988 bibliography on viruses has many pre-1986 references, most notably from the popular press:
    • Dewdney, A. K.; Computer Recreations - In the game called Core War hostile programs engage in a battle of bits; Scientific American; Mar 1984.
    • Dewdney, A. K.; Computer Recreations - A Core War bestiary of viruses, worms and other threats to computer memories; Scientific American; Mar 1985.
    I've always believed that were it not for these Scientific American articles, it would have taken a lot longer for viruses to become prevalent. These articles piqued the interest of computer users (then synonymous with programmers) everywhere. For example, here's a 1994 comp.sys.apple2 post I just found of someone who was seduced by the articles into writing viruses.
  16. Congratulations... by caitsith01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You will soon be the first ./ user to 'do the worm' twice in one year.

    --
    Read Pynchon.
  17. Re:"Network aware" worms by PenisLands · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, you're certainly living up to your name, Mr BadAnalogyGuy.
    (Just joking, no offense meant.)

  18. No, THIS is the first computer virus. by Animats · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is the first computer virus. From 1975. With source code.

  19. SCA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And theres me thinking the SCA bootblock virus from the SCA in 87 was a trendsetter, but obviously beaten by the apple II stuff. It certainly was a nice piece of code for 4k, funky scrolling text on a red bar set on a black background with the words "Something wonderful has happened" fading up and the usual bootloader. I remember the first time seeing this and someone explaining to me how it replicated, and thinking it was a wind up. Then realizing it was not. The fact they stuffed this into 4k was at the time something of a eye opener and I think help spark the 4k demo scene on the amiga (that and that is the size of the bootsector on a amiga floppy)
    The only real problem with it was commercial games used the 4k bootsector on the floppy to bootstrap their copy protected loaders in, and it used to overwrite these.
    We managed to keep the spread down to a minimum by use of a cunning device known as a "write protect tab". That is once we had virus checked a disk, it was write protected and that was that, since joe average could not afford a hard disk back then and the amiga ran out of its roms anything memory resident just went when the power was pulled...