The most dangerous computer virus ever: the story of the W32.Blaster.Worm
When you think of the most dangerous computer virus ever, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the W32.Blaster.Worm. This malicious piece of code was responsible for causing a worldwide outbreak of the Blaster remote-access Trojan (RAT) in 2003. The Blaster RAT allowed attackers to take control of victims’ computers remotely, and the worm was used to spread the RAT to millions of computers.
The Blaster worm was first discovered on July 11, 2003, by researcher Josh Wright. The worm quickly spread, infecting computers running Microsoft Windows. The worm used a vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows RPC DCOM service to spread itself. The vulnerability had been publicly disclosed a few weeks before the Blaster worm was unleashed, and Microsoft had released a patch for the issue on July 16.
Despite the patch being available, the Blaster worm was able to spread quickly due to the fact that many users had not yet applied the patch. The worm also did not require any user interaction to spread, meaning that it could spread automatically to vulnerable computers that were connected to the same network as an infected computer.
The Blaster worm caused a great deal of damage, with estimates of the total cost of the outbreak ranging from $1 billion to $10 billion. The worm caused many businesses to shut down their systems and networks in order to prevent the spread of the worm. The outbreak also caused a great deal of disruptions to public services, with the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA being among the agencies affected.
The Blaster worm was eventually stopped by the release of a security update by Microsoft that disabled the vulnerable RPC service. The update was released on August 8, 2003, just two weeks after the worm was first discovered.
Despite the damage caused by the Blaster worm, it could have been much worse. The worm could have been used to spread a more virulent form of the Blaster RAT, or it could have been used to spread other malware. Thankfully, the Blaster worm was stopped before it could cause any more damage.Visit Them
The most dangerous computer virus ever: the story of the Nimda virus
It was the early hours of Tuesday morning, September 18th, 2001. Most people in the United States were just getting ready for work or school, starting their day as usual. But unknown to them, something sinister was stirring. In the dark depths of the internet, a new computer virus was coming to life.
This virus would go on to become one of the most destructive and widespread viruses in history. In just a few short days, it would infect millions of computers in over 150 countries around the world. It would cause billions of dollars in damage, and bring some of the world’s biggest businesses to their knees. The virus was called Nimda, and this is its story.
Nimda (pronounced “nim-uh-dah”) was not your typical virus. Unlike most viruses, which are designed to cause destruction or steal sensitive information, Nimda was designed solely for one purpose: to spread. And spread it did.
The Nimda virus was released into the wild on September 18th, 2001, just one day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It is believed that the author(s) of the virus released it with the intention of causing even more destruction and chaos in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Unlike other viruses, which rely on users clicking on infected email attachments or visiting infected websites, Nimda used a variety of methods to spread itself. It could spread through email attachments, infected websites, and even infected files on network shares. This meant that even if a user didn’t click on anything, their computer could still become infected.
Once a computer was infected with Nimda, the virus would start to replicate itself. It would create copies of itself in every folder on the hard drive, and would even spread to external drives and network shares. The virus would also modify existing files on the computer, adding its own code to them. This made it very difficult to remove the virus, as simply deleting the files would often cause other programs to stop working.
The Nimda virus also had a “backdoor”, which allowed attackers to remotely control the infected computer. They could use this backdoor to install other programs, such as keyloggers or spyware. They could also use it to delete files, or encrypt files and demand a ransom for their decrypti0n.
Nimda was a destructive virus, but it was the sheer speed of its spread that was most alarming. Within just a few hours of its release, it had infected tens of thousands of computers. Within a day, that number had grown to hundreds of thousands. And within a week, Nimda had infected over 5 million computers around the world.
The virus caused billions of dollars in damage, and brought some of the world’s biggest businesses to their knees. In the United States, the virus caused significant disruptions to government agencies, businesses, and schools. The US Department of Energy was forced to disconnect all of its computers from the internet to prevent further infection. The Pentagon was also hit hard by the virus, with over 4,000 computers being infected.
The Nimda virus was eventually Contained, but not before it caused billions of dollars in damage and disrupted the lives of millions of people around the world. It is widely considered to be one of the most destructive and costly viruses in history.
Visit malwarezero.org to learn more about most dangerous computer virus ever. Disclaimer: We used this website as a reference for this blog post.
