Archives - History of Antivirus


On this day in history – backdoor trojan Bitfrost infects Windows

October 12, 2004: Bifrost is a backdoor trojan horse family of more than 10 variants which can infect Windows 95 through Windows 10 (although on modern Windows systems, after Windows XP, its functionality is limited). Bifrost uses the typical server, server builder, and client backdoor program configuration to allow a remote attacker, who uses the […]

On this day in history – VBMania computer Worm attacks Microsoft systems

September 9, 2010: The virus, called “here you have” or “VBMania”, is a computer worm that successfully attacked tens of thousands of Windows computers in 2010 when it was sent as a link inside an email message with the text “Here you have” in the subject line. The final extension of the link was hidden […]

The first known ransomware appears in 1989

Several thousand floppy disks containing the AIDS Trojan, the first known ransomware, are mailed to subscribers of PC Business World magazine and a WHO AIDS conference mailing list. This DOS Trojan lies dormant for 90 boot cycles, then encrypts all filenames on the system, displaying a notice asking for $189 to be sent to a […]

On this day in history – Blaster Worm attacks Windows computers

August 11, 2003: Blaster Worm (also known as Lovsan, Lovesan or MSBlast) is a computer worm that spread on computers running operating systems Windows XP and Windows 2000, during August 2003. The worm was first noticed and started spreading on August 11, 2003. The rate that it spread increased until the number of infections peaked […]

On this day in history – Koobface worm targets Facebook and Myspace users

July 31, 2008: Koobface is a network worm that attacks Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. This worm originally targeted users of networking websites like Facebook, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, and email websites such as GMail, Yahoo Mail, and AOL Mail. Technical support scammers also fraudulently claim to their intended victims that they have […]

On this day in history – Code Red worm attacks Microsoft web servers

July 13, 2001: Code Red was a computer worm observed on the Internet. It attacked computers running Microsoft’s IIS web server. The Code Red worm was first discovered and researched by eEye Digital Security employees Marc Maiffret and Ryan Permeh, the Code Red worm exploited a vulnerability discovered by Riley Hassell. They named it “Code […]