5 Most Dangerous Computer Viruses of All Time

Computer viruses can be a horror dream. Today, we want to tell you about 5 most dangerous computer (PC) viruses of all time. The Morris Worm or Internet worm was the first ever computer virus written by a student at Cornell University, Robert Tappan Morris, infected around 6K major computers in 1988, causing unprecedented havoc. Computer is a part of our daily life but viruses are the biggest problem for every computer user and Tech world till date.

Internet security firm Norton has made informative graphic about the five biggest viruses of all time. The real fact that the internet has become the heart of new generation means that it has also become a main target for hackers and crackers around the world. Read about the most devastating computer viruses (Mydoom, Sobig.F, ILOVEYOU, Code Red, and Slammer) the world has ever seen and discover exactly what made them so damaging.

5 Most Dangerous Computer Viruses of All Time

My Doom (2004)

My Doom that spread through email. When the unsuspecting victim opened the email, the mischievous code downloaded itself and then pilfered the new victim’s Outlook address book.

• Damages - $38,000,000,000
• Computers Infected - 2,000,000

Sogbig.F (2003)

Once the user opened the email, it triggered the worm, which then went hunting for addresses.

• Damages - $37,100,000,000
• Computers Infected - 2,000,000

I Love You (2000)

A nice look email attachment titled “I Love You”. When opened, it unleashed a malicious program that overwrote the users’ image files. It was created to steal Internet access passwords.

• Damages - $15,000,000,000
• Computers Infected - 500,000

Code Red (2001)

A dangerous worm that exploited an operating system vulnerability in machines running Windows 2000 and Windows NT. This allowed it to deface and take down some websites.

• Damages - $2,600,000,000 
• Computers Infected - 1,000,000

Slammer (2003)

Slammer caused a denial of service on some Internet hosts and dramatically slowed down general Internet traffic. It worked by releasing a deluge of network packets, units of data transmitted over the Internet, bringing the net on many servers to a near screeching halt.

• Damages - $1,200,000,000
• Computers Infected - 200,000

How Fast They Spread