A Windows laptop infected with six high-profile computer viruses has surpassed the value of a million dollars at auction.
As part of a project called “The Persistence of Chaos,” security firm Deep Instinct infected a Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Blue Netbook (2008) running Windows XP SP3 with six malware strains that have previously caused financial losses totaling $95 billion.
Among the dangerous malware are WannaCry, a ransomware family that exploited a Microsoft SMB vulnerability to infect hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide in May 2017, and BlackEnergy, which caused a power outage in Ukraine over Christmas 2015. The computer has also been infected with the ILOVEYOU virus, MyDoom worm, SoBig trojan, and DarkTequila malware.
The researchers made sure that the above viruses did not reach the web and cause more damage.
The project was presented via a live feed hosted on a website created exclusively for this project.
So far, the minimum bid for the computer is $1,130,500.
One of the researchers told VICE that he created Project of Chaos to explore how people perceive malware.
He described the work as a “beastly, historical threat catalogue” that highlights how it is “exciting to see the beasts in a living environment.”
