Computer virus: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:31, 2 February 2011

Revision as of 21:10, 2 February 2011

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A program called "[[Elk Cloner]]" was the first computer virus to appear "in the wild"&nbsp;— that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created.<ref name=prank>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnbc.com/id/20534084/ |title=School prank starts 25 years of security woes |publisher=[[CNBC]] |accessdate=2010-01-07 |author=Anick Jesdanun |date=1 September 2007}}</ref> Written in 1981 by [[Richard Skrenta]], it attached itself to the [[Apple DOS]] 3.3 operating system and spread via [[floppy disk]].<ref name=prank/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/03/computer.virus.ap/|title=The anniversary of a nuisance}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=RjwilmsiBot}}</ref> This virus, created as a practical joke when Skrenta was still in high school, was injected in a game on a floppy disk. On its 50th use the [[Elk Cloner]] virus would be activated, infecting the computer and displaying a short poem beginning "Elk Cloner: The program with a personality."

In 1981, a local version of the popular Unix adventure game "Rogue" developed at U.C. Santa Cruz's Crown College Stat Lab had an added segment that requested "Computer wants a cookie." With the response, "Oreo or chocolate chip", the added code would be erased. One "infected" version that managed to find its way outside the local network ended up being proliferated to other sites across the country. This resulted in an investigation by the FBI. The authors were shortly later offered jobs by the firm "Fortune Systems".

The first PC virus in the wild was a boot sector virus dubbed [[(c)Brain]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/bootsectorvirus.htm |title=Boot sector virus repair |publisher=Antivirus.about.com |date=2010-06-10 |accessdate=2010-08-27}}</ref> created in 1986 by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in [[Lahore, Pakistan]], reportedly to deter piracy of the software they had written.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m58MqJdWgDc |title=Amjad Farooq Alvi Inventor of first PC Virus post by Zagham |publisher=YouTube |date= |accessdate=2010-08-27}}</ref>