A Brief Timeline of Viruses from the Beginning of Networked Computing

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Malware—viruses, worms, Trojan horses and the like—have been around about as long as the first networked computers. In fact, 2011 is the 40th anniversary of the first known computer virus, a laboratory experiment that didn't cause damage but proved to be a harbinger of the risks to come. Here is a brief timeline showing some of the milestones in the history of computer mischief.
 
I'm kinda surprised that the article didn't mention Chernobyl, one of the 1st viruses to be able to infect and corrupt the bios firmware of a computer, potentially turning an infected machine into a brick
 
dargon said:
I'm kinda surprised that the article didn't mention Chernobyl, one of the 1st viruses to be able to infect and corrupt the bios firmware of a computer, potentially turning an infected machine into a brick
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My uncle's compaq got nailed by that one. It was the one OEM box we had at the time, and the only one on his network that got bricked among 4 or 5 machines total that were (potentially) exposed to it.
 
Very short and cursory look at computer viruses that points out that it wasn't until 1983 that the term "virus" was used, but it was an idea that had been around since 1949. And the actual term "virus" was first used to denote a self-reproducing program that infects other computers in a short story by David Gerrold in Galaxy magazine in 1969, and later in his 1972 novel, "When HARLIE Was One".
 
Robert Morris, how'd you get to be so clever?

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Chernobyl... i remember that one... i think it was either in 98 or 99 when i get hit with that one... it sucked
 
SulSeeker said:
My uncle's compaq got nailed by that one. It was the one OEM box we had at the time, and the only one on his network that got bricked among 4 or 5 machines total that were (potentially) exposed to it.
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Isn't this also about the time when Compaq had the BIOS as what was essentially a hidden partition on the stock hard drive?
 
I made one in 1982 (or so) by accident, I was messing around with 6502 assembly and was modifying the D.O.S. for my Atari 800. It would even update the version on other disks you tried to do a directory of. I might even still have a copy of it somewhere.
 
There's also a lot of stuff missing from the early 90's, our college computer lab was like a whorehouse of virii'

Stuff that would get into your BIOS, boot sectors, all kinds of crap.
 
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