For those who don't know what a "computer virus" is, it is a small program that "infects" the computer, specifically its environment itself (Operating System / OS, in Greek: Λευτικό Συστήματα) and / or some application that we use, with a purpose that ... varies, depending on the moods of its creator.
Now that we all know what a virus is, it will be more interesting to follow together a journey of the best - worst viruses that infected user terminals in recent decades. The older ones will remember, and the younger ones will learn.
The journey of the deadliest viruses in history: 1971 – The Beginning #1
The story begins with the first malicious program CREEPER , it was an experimental self-replicating program written by Bob Thomas at BBN in 1971 that was transmitted over the ARPANET (the Network or otherwise the "father" of today's Internet) simply displayed the message on the terminal screen
"I'm the Creeper, catch me, if you can" = I'm the creeper, catch me, if you can
It was designed not to destroy, but to demonstrate a mobile application. It is generally accepted that it is the first computer worm, and it began its activity in December 1971.
The unfortunate PDP-10 computers running the TENEX operating system would be the first to be infected. Of course, there was a reaction from Ray Tomlinson by creating Reaper, another "worm", with the aim of deleting the first one.
Note: The term "terminal" suggests that at that time each user did not have his own computer, but only a screen-keyboard set, as the main and only computer was of enormous size in a room of many square meters, where many such sets were connected to it - each set and user. The Creeper virus only did it travel from the PDP-10 supercomputer (mainframe) of the once powerful DEC company and through the ARPANET to the terminals, displaying the above message. The purpose, very simple: it proved that its creator had the programming ability to "enter" the computer and nothing else.
This was just the beginning of our journey. Unfortunately, the evolution in the “education” of virus creators would later show that it was much worse over time, having gone from just one virus in 1971 to 1,300 in 1990, to 50,000 in 2000, to… 200 million viruses in 2010. Today, who really knows how to tell us?
The ethics of virus creators have also changed – from the simple, annoying Creeper message, viruses can now steal important personal information from our computer (passwords, e-mails, bank accounts, etc.), and can even completely destroy our data.
* Historical note: The name "Creeper" of the first virus is the name of a "bad" character from the Scooby Doo cartoon series, while the first antivirus to combat it (which marks the birth of antiviruses) was named "reaper".
Our journey has just begun. More to come soon.
For this, stay tuned to SenNews.
