Dangerous computer virus

The virus would take advantage of JavaScript running on websites and download itself to different computers when the user visited a certain website.

Once the virus is in the system, the Mac computer becomes a botnet. Via: news. Specifically designed to steal banking information, Tiny Banker Trojan is a better and smaller form of Banker Trojan which was seen in the past. This virus uses packet sniffing to detect if a user is entering login details to operate a bank account. When it does happen, the virus uses bank details like its bank website domain, logo, and title to identify the bank and save its details.

After the user has logged in with the correct details, the virus creates a fake pop up with all the bank details to make the page seem real and asks the user for the details again. Via: deccanchronicle. If a virus is already in a computer system, then it can move to other systems which are on the same network.

Instead of corrupting, Shamoon would directly start deleting files in the system. It was noticed that the virus was mainly deleting personal files from folders like Downloads, Pictures, Documents, Music, Video, and Desktop.

It also had the ability to overwrite the master boot record, making the system unbootable. Shamoon also attacked several energy and oil companies all across the world. Via: SensorsTechForum. First found in September , Duqu was quite similar to how Stuxnet worked, but it was completely rewritten to serve a different purpose. The virus got its name from the fact that it made files with a prefix DQ.

It was found that Duqu does not corrupt the system in any way. Instead it lies dormant in a system and only gathers crucial information like document files, desktop screenshots, and keystrokes. The main purpose of Duqu was to steal information, but in some cases, it was found that Duqu was, in fact, deleting some personal files, or the entire hard drive. The Duqu 2. Via: galido. Found in January , Storm Worm is one of the most harmful viruses ever discovered.

It started from Russia, and it is the fastest spreading email virus which has ever attacked Windows systems. Like other viruses which are spread through email, Storm Worm too uses a deceiving headline to make users download email attachments.

Usually, the subject made the email look like it was a news piece and the attachment was a video connected to that news. By June , the Storm Worm had infected over 1. Via: securelist. Discovered in November , the Regin virus was so efficient in attacking Windows computers, that most of the security and antivirus software were not able to detect this virus until the very end of Klez appeared even earlie r than the two previous worms in Klez would send fake emails, spoof known senders , and kill other viruses within a system.

Klez came in many flavors, as other viruses and worms often do. During all this time, it kept evolving to release more dangerous iterations. During the s , this dangerous computer virus would arrive in your inbox disguised as a love letter. But, then, it seemed to be nothing but a plain text file. Iloveyou aka Loveletter hit the internet on May 4th. And it must have found the force within it because it reached 10 million computers very quickly.

The author was Onel e Guzman, a college student from the Phlippines. However, it seems that he never intended for his work to spread so much or to do so much damage. The WanaCry is the first ransomware on our list. It takes over your computer or cloud files , encrypts them to make them unavailable to you. Then it asks for you to pay a ransom hence, the name to receive the decryptor to unlock your data.

WanaCry arrived at the computers of countries in a single day. It hit all kinds of organization s hospitals, governmental offices, private businesses , causing massive disruption. Fortunately, Marcus Hutchins , a year-old security expert in the UK, eventually found a way to neutralize WannaCry. The WannaCry episode illustrated how the most outdated operating systems are vulnerable to attacks.

That is why updating your system is a standard security practice. The Zeuz theft tool hit the web for the first time in It was more like a suite , and it included several programs that composed the global Zeus botnet. Zeuz arose from Eastern Europe and transferred money into secret bank accounts. There was no single, lonely, poor programmer behind Zeuz. Instead, it had an entire organization supporting and profiting from it. In , more than members of the virus crime ring were arrested.

Zeuz is not as prominent at present, but it spawned a new generation of malware as other developers used pieces of the Zeuz code to integrate into their own, more recent, worms and viruses. Zeuz-related documented damage ascended to million USD. The costs in terms of lost productivity, morale, and undocumented theft must be several times higher. If we estimate all that damage and adjust for inflation, Zeuz costs at least about 4 billion USD while active. Unfortunately, it left no trace in the hardware like files on a hard drive , which complicated the forensic analysis.

Slammer would select an IP address at random and explore the security vulnerabilities in the target system.

If it found the target environment feasible for the attack, it would replicate to the target system. Once it had a good number of infected computers ready, it launched DDoS attacks on some selected internet servers, thus ruining their traffic. Banking computers in the US and Canada had the worse experience with Slammer. The worm even forced ATMs to go offline in multiple places. No definitive solution was ever found to prevent SQP Slammer infections. In fact, saw the attack surface again from computers located in Mexico, China, and Ukraine.

The estimated number of systems with a CryptoLocker infection is about a quarter million. It seems you can write excellent and effective code without mastering English. This message comes along a payment demand, leaving no doubts about what to do next: you pay for the privilege of deciphering your very own files, or you lose all control over your system. CryptoLocker used the Gameover Zeus botnet to distribute and install millions of CryptoLocker copies in vulnerable systems.

Sophos Security estimates the cost of average ransomware hit at , USD. If we estimate additionally that CryptoLocker successfully attacked some corporations, the total cost would have been around million USD, give or take a lot. Sven Jaschan was a computer science student in Germany, 17 years old. By the time he got arrested in , he was already of age. There was a , bounty on his head , as the creator of Sasser. However, one of his friends blew the whistle on him. Instead, he also created the Netsky.

The legal system gave Mr. Jaschan a suspended sentence when it became clear that he was a minor as he was writing the code. Sasser crashed millions of computers globally, and with an apparently low infection rate, it incurred damages of around million USD. Melissa is a name in Greek mythology, and it refers to the first honey bee. But in , there was also a Florida exotic dancer called Melissa who caught the attention of David L.

Smith, the author of the eponymous computer virus. This one started as an infected Word document that the author posted to the Usenet. He persuaded thousands of Usenet lurkers to download it, claiming it was a list of working passwords for adult websites. Eventually, the unavoidable incident happened as people downloaded the file and opened it.

Upon opening, a macro in the file would come alive and release its payload. Thus Melissa reproduced itself. In addition, Melissa would show itself by inserting a Simpsons reference into the corrupted Word files now and then.

Smith uploaded the fateful Word file through a stolen AOL account. Unfortunately for him, this allowed the authorities to trace the file back to him, so they arrested him before a week had passed. He cooperated with the FBI in capturing other virus creators, famous among them the creator of the Anna Kournikova virus.

A Windows worm first discovered in , it was created by computer science student Sven Jaschan, who also created the Netsky worm. While the payload itself may be seen as simply annoying it slows down and crashes the computer, while making it hard to reset without cutting the power , t he effects were incredibly disruptive, with millions of computers being infected, and important, critical infrastructure affected.

The worm took advantage of a buffer overflow vulnerability in Local Security Authority Subsystem Service LSASS , which controls the security policy of local accounts causing crashes to the computer.

It will also use the system resources to propagate itself to other machines through the Internet and infect others automatically. This led to more than a million infections , taking out critical infrastructures, such as airlines, news agencies, public transportation, hospitals, public transport, etc. Jaschen was tried as a minor and received a 21 month suspended sentence. Zeus is a Trojan horse made to infect Windows computers so that it will perform various criminal tasks.

The most common of these tasks are usually man-in-the-browser keylogging and form grabbing. The majority of computers were infected either through drive-by downloads or phishing scams. First identified in , it managed to compromise thousands of FTP accounts and computers from large multinational corporations and banks such as Amazon, Oracle, Bank of America, Cisco, etc.

Controllers of the Zeus botnet used it to steal the login credentials of social network, email and banking accounts. The entire operation was sophisticated, involving people from around the world to act as money mules to smuggle and transfer cash to the ringleaders in Eastern Europe. In late , the creator of Zeus announced his retirement but many experts believe this to be false.

Also known as Downup or Downadup , Conficker is a worm of unknown authorship for Windows that made its first appearance in The name comes form the English word, configure and a German pejorative.

It infects computers using flaws in the OS to create a botnet. The malware was able to infect more than 9 millions computers all around the world, affecting governments, businesses and individuals. The worm works by exploiting a network service vulnerability that was present and unpatched in Windows. Once infected, the worm will then reset account lockout policies, block access to Windows update and antivirus sites, turn off certain services and lock out user accounts among many.

Then, it proceeds to install software that will turn the computer into a botnet slave and scareware to scam money off the user. Microsoft later provided a fix and patch with many antivirus vendors providing updates to their definitions. Believed to have been created by the Israeli Defence Force together with the American Government, Stuxnet is an example of a virus created for the purpose of cyberwarfare , as it was intended to disrupt the nuclear efforts of the Iranians.

The computer worm was designed to attack industrial Programmable Logic Controllers PLC , which allows for automation of processes in machinery. It specifically aimed at those created by Siemens and was spread through infected USB drives.