History of Malware

Malware is the term used for malicious software. Malware is software employed by its designer to cause impede a computer’s operation, collect information, or break into private computer systems. The many faces of malware include spyware, viruses, worms, and other destructive programs. Malware has been used for decades and continues to become more sophisticated as anti-virus software improves.

In 1971, a program called Creeper became the first known computer virus. Creeper infected machines on ARPANET. Creeper continues to inspire designers today.

In 1981, an invasive virus called Elk Cloner joined itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system. It was created by a fifteen-year-old student who formatted the virus to travel from computer to computer via floppy disk. Infected computers would receive a message displayed on the screen on the fiftieth boot after their infection. The message was a short poem from the creator of the virus.

The year 1987 saw the infestation of the first direct action virus. Called the Vienna Virus, it downloaded into the computer’s memory, infected other files, and then unloaded itself. Also in 1987, a virus known as nVIR infected Macs and spread via floppy disk. Because it was then made available, several variations of this virus were later created.

In 1988, the Morris Worm wreaked havoc on university and military computer system and made its way into NASA’s computers. It prevented computer’s from completing tasks.

The first macrovirus appeared in 1995. It was called Concept and hid itself in Word documents. It grew by attaching itself to more files every time the host program was run.

1999 saw the birth of several viruses, including Happy99, the Melissa Worm, and the Kak Worm. They were prolific in Microsoft environments.

In 2000, the ILOVEYOU virus spread via email. It arrived in the digital inbox with an attachment. When opened, the attachment resulted in damage that required fifteen billion dollars for clean up.

The 2000s were a busy time for malware with such viruses as Code Red, Geimini (the first Android virus), Zeus, and ZitMo. In 2011 alone, approximately 73,000 malware viruses were created every day.