I LOVE YOU (2000) – In the year 2000, millions of people made the mistake of opening what appeared to be an email from a secret admirer. It was simply titled “I Love You”, but instead of being a loving confession, it was really a “worm”, which after overwriting the users’ images was sent by email to 50 contacts in the user’s Windows calendar. In just a few hours it became a global infection.
Code Red and Code Red II (2001) – Compared to modern malware Code Red seems not to be so dangerous, however in 2001 it surprised online security experts by using a flaw in the Microsoft Information Server, managing to download and change some websites. The most memorable was perhaps the White House site: whitehouse.gov and also forced other government sites to download their pages momentarily.
SQL Slammer (2003) – In January 2003, Slammer proved how harmful a worm could be to public and private services. The worm released an avalanche of network packets, and the amount of data it transmitted over the internet caused several servers to suspend activities almost immediately. Among the victims of the worm were Bank of America, the US 911 emergency service and a nuclear plant in Ohio.
Fizzer (2003) – The worms that had been seen until 2004 were mainly to create a bit of chaos, Fizzer, went after the money. Many dismissed the worm as it did not move with the speed of Code Red, but what made it more dangerous is that it was a worm created for profit – once in your email sent emails not only to spread, but to send porn spam and pills.
My Doom (2004) – In 2004 he managed to infect around a million machines by launching a massive denial of the attack service, in doing so he overwhelms his target by sending him information from various systems. The worm spread by email and did it with a speed never before seen.
PoisonIvy (2005) – It is the nightmare of any security system because it allows the virus to control the computer it has infected. PoisonIvy belongs to the group of malware known as “a remote Trojan”, because it allows the virus creator to have full access to the machines that he infected using a kind of backdoor, to the extent that it allows to record and manipulate information from the computer. Initially it was considered a tool for beginner hackers, the virus has come to affect many companies in the West.
Zeus (2007) – Currently, it is the most used malware to obtain, illegally, personal information. It can be purchased for a price of 50 cents on the virtual crime market and allows stealing passwords and files. Stolen personal information can be used to make purchases online or create bank accounts in the name of a compromised identity.
dagent.btz (2008) – This malware was responsible for the creation of a new military department in the United States, the Cyber Command. The virus spreads through infected memories that install malware that steals information. When agent.btz was found on Pentagon computers, they suspected it was the work of foreign spies.
Conficker Virus (2009) – In 2009 this new virus affected millions of Windows machines around the world. It managed to create a kind of global army that stole all kinds of information. Because it was really difficult to stop a group of experts was created specifically dedicated to stop it, the virus came to be known as the “super bug”, or “super worm”. What has left the experts really puzzled is that no one knows what exactly it is for, the stolen information was never used.
Stuxnet (2009-2010) – This virus was the first to be created to cause damage in the real world and not only in the virtual world. The main objective of the malware was to damage industrial systems – it is believed that the virus was responsible for causing damage to the equipment that processed uranium at a Natanz plant in Iran. Based on information from the International Atomic Energy Agency, experts believe that the virus was responsible for causing many centrifuges that processed uranium in Iran to spin out of control and self-destruct. The virus was not discovered until 2010 but they suspect that it infected computers since 2009.
CryptoLocker (2013) – The CryptoLocker ransomware attack is a huge popular cyberattack using the CryptoLocker ransomware that occurred on the web from 5 September 2013 to May 2014. This attack utilized a malware that targeted computers running on MS Windows, and was believed to have first seen on the Internet on 5 September 2013. This ransomware spreads via malicious email attachments and encrypted files on targeted computers making them impossible to view and access. In order to restore PC owner’s access to their data, he had to pay a ransom, at this point the cybercriminals would send a decryption key that could be used to decrypt the infected files.