Ever witnessed a virus attack on your machine? If not then you must be interested to know about them and how they work. These threats a.k.a. computer viruses are very dangerous and they create havoc.

It’s always interesting to know about something that is much talked about and how a tiny code can wreck your computers. In this article, we will discuss, the famous and malicious computer viruses ever seen.

1. Melissa

Melissa was the mass-mailing macro virus created by David L.Smith in 1999. It targeted Microsoft Word and Outlook based systems by infecting Word document posted up on the alt.sex Usenet group. Thus making people curious to download and open the document, which ended by unleashing the payload.

Melissa computer virus was capable of mailing itself to 50 people present in the victim’s address book.

2. CryptoLocker

We have heard a lot about malware, viruses, and computer security threats. But there’s is a new kid playing around, known as Ransomware. Some of us know what it is, but still many are unaware of the way ransomware work and how harmful it can be.

Ransomware is a type of deadliest computer virus malware that takes your files hostage. Similarly, as bad guys kidnap someone in movies and then demands ransom to return them back. Ransomware works very much like that except this time it’s your system taken up by the faceless criminals.

Cryptolocker is a type of trojan ransomware released in 2013 that spread itself through email attachments. Once its downloaded malicious code hidden in the attachment encrypts all user files making them inaccessible.

Thus asking the victim to pay a certain amount of ransom to get the decryption key. This demand of money can vary from a few hundred pounds up to a couple of grand or in form of cryptocurrency. In some cased system restore might work therefore, it is recommended to take a backup of files to stay protected.

CryptoLocker is just the tip of the iceberg by now there are thousands of ransomware lurking on the internet waiting for the user to fall for them.

Also Read: Tips To Create Secure Passwords To Protect Your Account

3. ILOVEYOU

ILOVEYOU sound of this word brings sweetness and warmth, doesn’t it? Indeed, it does but do you know this computer virus was one of the well-known and malicious computer viruses of its time.

It’s been more than a decade since ILOVEYOU computer virus was found wandering on the internet. But today things are different there are stern security measures taken.

But this doesn’t overrule the fact that we should learn from the past. ILOVEYOU was the most dangerous computer virus as it encouraged hackers to use the keyboard as a weapon.

But why is it considered that ruthless?

In early 2000 malware was a myth that was the reason it could easily getaway. But things have changed now no one will ever fall for tricks used by hackers at that time like opening an email that has a subject line “I love you”.

Snoopy people were the most common victim of it, as they fall for such tricks easily. They don’t worry about the sender what they do is to open the mail and compromised their system.

How was the malware downloaded?

The malware worm was downloaded by clicking on an attachment named ‘LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs’.

Once ILOVEYOU gets into the system it overwrites system files, personal files and spreads itself all over the system.

Researchers found about the virus and made people aware of it but no one paid attention and many machines were compromised.

Not only thins ILOVEYOU was so popular that it got a place in the Guinness World Record as the most ‘virulent’ virus of all time.

Also Read: Do I Need an Antivirus Program for My Mac?

4. MyDoom

MyDoom is another damaging virus that surfaced in 2004. This worm for Windows was competing with ILOVEYOU and was a record holder email spreading the worm.

Although the author is unknown, it is believed that the threat actor was paid for it. The name Mydoom explains the threat and this name was given by Craig Schmugar a McAfee employee. Unlike other worms, computer viruses Mydoom hit big giants like SCO, Microsoft, and Google through Distributed Denial of Service attack.

5. Storm Worm

Storm Worm was another vicious computer virus that made its occurrence in 2006. It sends out an email with a subject line – ‘230 dead as storm batters Europe’ targeting news fan. As soon as the user clicks on it the problem starts.

Storm Worm was a Trojan horse that infected multiple machines and turned them into zombies known as bots. These bots are used to spread viruses by sending out a huge amount of spam mail.

Note: Never open an email received from an unknown person.

6. Sasser & Netsky

Sasser and Netsky are two worms created by a 17-year-old Sven Jaschan. These two worms are grouped together as they are similar. This makes experts believe that both codes are created by the same person.

Sasser and Netsky both infect the machines but differently. The former spread infection by scanning random IP addresses and instructing them to download the virus. Whereas the latter was a more viral and dangerous computer virus as it was an email-based worm.

Also Read: Scarab Ransomware Targets E-mail Accounts

7. Stuxnet

Stuxnet is the scariest computer virus spread by a USB thumb drive targeting software control. A malicious computer virus-like Melissa that can centrifuge to self-destruct.

So, here is the information about all the scariest computer viruses and malware that harmed our systems in past. They continue to damage our system and in a more varied way. So, to stay safe from the latest computer virus and pay attention to system security.