Computer Virus List – The 5 Worst Viruses of All Time

Here is a list of top 5 worst viruses known till date to help you so that you never fall victim to computer viruses:

Melissa

One of the earliest virus program that was introduced in the form of a ‘word document’ sent as email attachment to people around the world. Its creator, David L. Smith, named it after an exotic dancer from Florida. This virus when opened by the recipient replicates itself and sends itself to approximately 50 contacts in the address list. With this attack, there was a sudden explosion to the amount of email traffic due to which some major email service providers had to discontinue their email programs.

ILOVEYOU

Just like the Melissa virus, this threat traveled to the computer systems across the world in the form of an email attachment. It was named so because the subject of the email states that the attachment is a love letter from an admirer. From replicating itself several times and infecting victim’s hard drive and registry keys to stealing passwords and sending to the hacker; this virus had a wide range of attacks. Onel De Guzman was believed to be the creator of this virus, but there is no proper evidence or claim regarding the same.

CODE RED

In the year 2001, two employees at the eEye Digital found this virus and named it so as they were drinking Code Red Mountain Dew at that time. The main target of this worm were computer systems that were installed with Microsoft IIS web server. This virus leaves a slight trace on the hard disk and runs entirely on memory. Once done, it infects the system by replicating itself hundred times and thus eats up most of the resources in the system.

Sasser

Developed by a computer scientist in the year 2004, this Windows worm works by first slowing down the target system and then crashing it ultimately. Taking advantage of buffer overflow vulnerability in Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) and caused crashed to the systems. In order to infect itself to other machines through the web, it makes use of system resources. The effects of this infection were widespread as more than a million systems were disrupted.

Conficker

Also known with the name of Downadup, this worm was first detected in the year 2008. Its name is derived from the English word ‘configure’ and a German pejorative. Taking advantage of the flaws in the Operating System of computers, this virus spreads its infection. Apart from blocking programs and services in target computers, this worm turns the system into a botnet and asks for ransom money from users. More than 9 million systems were affected by this virus.

Ever attacked by a computer virus? Share your experiences with us in the comments section. You can also read out blog post on Know the Different Types of Malware on Internet.