The most dangerous virus of the 21st century
The 21st century has seen a number of dangerous viruses emerge, but none more so than the Ebola virus. First appearing in Sudan and Zaire in the 1970s, Ebola has since claimed the lives of over 11,000 people, with the majority of deaths occurring in Africa.
The Ebola virus is a highly contagious and deadly disease that is spread through contact with body fluids of an infected person.Symptoms of Ebola include fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and bleeding. There is no specific treatment for Ebola and the virus can lead to death in as little as two days.
The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the largest and most deadly outbreak of the virus to date, with over 28,000 people infected and over 11,000 killed. The outbreak began in Guinea and quickly spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Mali.
The international response to the outbreak was slow and insufficient, and the virus was able to spread rapidly throughout the region. This led to a severe shortage of hospital beds, health care workers, and supplies.
While the outbreak has now been contained, the Ebola virus remains a serious threat to public health. With no cure or prevention available, Ebola continues to claim lives each year..Click Here
10 most dangerous computer viruses in the world
Most dangerous computer viruses
As computer viruses go, these are the most dangerous of the bunch. All of these viruses have caused widespread havoc, and in some cases, billions of dollars in damage.
1. ILOVEYOU
This virus, also known as Love Letter, hit the scene in 2000 and immediately began wreaking havoc. The virus was spread via email, with the subject line “ILOVEYOU” and attachment “loveletter.txt.vbs”. The email would often come from someone the recipient knew, which helped it to spread quickly.
Once opened, the virus would send itself to everyone in the victim’s address book and delete critical system files, rendering the computer useless. In total, it is estimated that ILOVEYOU caused $5.5 billion in damage and affected over 50 million people.
2. Melissa
Like ILOVEYOU, Melissa was a virus that spread via email. It was first released in 1999 and got its name from a stripper in Florida. The email would come with the subject line “Important Message from [name]” and an attachment of “melissa.doc”.
When opened, the virus would replicate itself and send itself out to the first 50 people in the victim’s address book. It would also disable certain anti-virus software and open up the victim’s computer to other attacks. Melissa caused an estimated $80 million in damage.
3. Sasser
Sasser was a worm that hit in 2004 and primarily affected Windows XP and Windows 2000 machines. It would spread itself by exploiting a flaw in the Microsoft Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS). Once a machine was infected, the worm would launch a denial of service attack against a predefined list of IP addresses.
This would cause the infected machine to crash and would often require a reboot. Sasser would also spread itself to any other machines on the same network as the infected machine. It is estimated that Sasser caused over $18 million in damage.
4. Mydoom
Mydoom was a worm that hit in 2004 and is considered to be the fastest spreading email worm of all time. It was spread via email, with the subject line “Mail Delivery System Error” and an attachment of “error.zip”.
Once opened, the worm would send itself out to everyone in the victim’s address book and would open up a back door on the infected machine, allowing attackers to gain access. Mydoom caused an estimated $38 billion in damage and is also responsible for the creation of the Waledac botnet.
5. SoBig
SoBig was a virus that hit in 2003 and quickly spread itself across the globe. It was spread via email, with the subject line “Hi [name]” and an attachment of “sobig.exe”.
Once opened, the virus would send itself out to everyone in the victim’s address book and would also download additional viruses and malware onto the infected machine. SoBig caused an estimated $37.1 billion in damage.
6.Conficker
Conficker was a worm that hit in 2008 and is still active today. It spreads itself by exploiting a flaw in the Windows Server service and can also spread via removable media and network shares.
Once a machine is infected, the worm will disable certain security features and will open up a back door, allowing attackers to gain control. Conficker has caused an estimated $9 billion in damage and is still considered a serious threat today.
7.Stuxnet
Stuxnet was a worm that hit in 2010 and is considered to be the first weaponized malware. It was specifically designed to target industrial control systems, such as those used in nuclear facilities.
Stuxnet would spread itself by exploiting flaws in Windows and when executed, would reprogram industrial control systems to cause physical damage. It is estimated that Stuxnet caused over $1 billion in damage and was responsible for the destruction of centrifuges at the Iranian nuclear facility in Natanz.
8. Cryptolocker
Cryptolocker was a virus that hit in 2013 and used encryption to hold users’ files hostage. It would spread itself via email attachments, malicious ads, and infected websites.
Once a machine was infected, the virus would scan for certain types of files and encrypt them, making them inaccessible. The victim would then be presented with a ransom demand, typically for $300, in order to decrypt the files. Cryptolocker was responsible for over $27 million in damage before it was finally shut down.
9. WannaCry
WannaCry was a worm that hit in 2017 and quickly spread across the globe, affecting over 230,000 computers in 150 countries. It exploited a flaw in the Windows SMB protocol and once a machine was infected, would encrypt files and demand a ransom for their return.
WannaCry caused an estimated $4 billion in damage and was responsible for the disruption of vital services, such as hospitals and transportation.
10. NotPetya
NotPetya was a virus that hit in 2017 and was primarily aimed at Ukraine. It used the same exploit as WannaCry and would spread itself via the EternalBlue vulnerability.
Once a machine was infected, the virus would encrypt files and then present the user with a fake ransom demand. NotPetya was responsible for over $10 billion in damage, making it one of the most destructive viruses of all time.
Visit malwarezero.org to learn more about what was the most dangerous computer virus. Disclaimer: We used this website as a reference for this blog post.