10 Most Destructive Computer Viruses

Computer Virus can be a nightmare for every computer user. It is like a cancer which slowly kills our computers.In the list,we have mentioned 10 most destructive computer viruses.

Top 10 Most-Destructive Computer Viruses Ever 

The word “Computer Virus” really scares all computer users. As we all know, Viruses can cause a lot of damage to the computer. It can damage victims privacy, can access private files and can even corrupt the very precious data which includes photos, videos, saved passwords etc. Computer viruses have already caused many financial losses for many companies. Sometimes it is good to look at the past and take a look at the viruses that caused widespread destruction that can make you conscious of computer viruses. Following are the 10 most destructive computer viruses of all time.

1.   ILOVEYOU

It is the computer worm that attacked more than ten millions of windows personal computers. The virus started to spread as an email message which includes a subject line “ILOVEYOU” and has the attachment of “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.txt.vbs”. Once clicked it had the capabilities of forwarding itself to everybody in the victim’s address book and proceed to overwrite files with itself which makes the computer unbootable. This virus was created by two Filipino Programers, Reonel Ramones and Onel de Guzman.

2.   Code Red

Code Red was discovered by two eEye Digital Security employees in 2001. It was named Code Red because the the pair were drinking Code Red Mountain Dew at the time of discovery. The worm targeted computers with Microsoft IIS web server installed, exploiting a buffer overflow problem in the system. It leaves very little trace on the hard disk as it is able to run entirely on memory, with a size of 3,569 bytes. Once infected, it will proceed to make a hundred copies of itself but due to a bug in the programming, it will duplicate even more and ends up eating a lot of the systems resources

It will then launch a denial of service attack on several IP address, famous among them the website of the White House. It also allows backdoor access to the server, allowing for remote access to the machine. The most memorable symptom is the message it leaves behind on affected web pages, "Hacked By Chinese!", which has become a meme itself.

3.   Nimda

Nimda was first found  in September 18, 2001. The name of the virus is derived from the word “Admin” if spelled backwards. Nimda used Emails, server vulnerabilities, shared folders and file transfer to spread itself. It became the internet’s most widespread virus within 22 minutes. The main purpose of the virus was to slow down the internet traffic considerable causing a DoS attack.

 

4.    Conficker

Conficker which is also known as Downup, Downadup and Kido is a type of computer virus that usually targets Microsoft Windows Operating system. The virus was first identified in November 2008. This virus uses flaws of Windows operating system to fetch the administrator password via dictionary attacks while forming a botnet. This virus infected millions of computers which include government, business and home computer in over 190 countries.

5.  Storm Worm

The Storm Worm is a backdoor trojan horse that was identified in late 2006. Storm worm came in the spotlight when users started receiving e-mails with a subject line about a recent weather disaster “230 dead as storm batters Europe”. The Storm Worm virus easily tricks the victims to click on the fake links that were already infected by the virus turning any windows computer into a botnet. As of January 22, 2007, the Storm Worm accounted for 8% of all malware infections globally.

6.   SkyNet

We all know about the Terminator, Skynet is a virus that was inspired from The terminator movie. It is a very kind virus which makes the victims PC slow very kindly as well as it turns the computer screen red and states “Don’t be afraid. I am a very kind virus. You have done many works today. So, I will let your computer slow down. Have a nice day, Goodbye. Press a key to continue”. This virus infects all .exe files on the computer.

7.   Zeus

This is a type of trojan horse malware that spreads mainly through drive-by downloads and phishing schemes. It was first recognized in July 2007 when it was mainly used to steal information from the United States Department of Transportation. Zeus virus is very tough to detect because it uses some special stealth techniques that make difficult for an updated antivirus to detect it. Due to its special stealth techniques, this malware has become the largest botnet on the internet.

8.   MyDoom

On 1st February 2004, approximately one million computers were infected with Mydoom’s denial of service attacks and it was the largest such attack to the date. Mydoom virus spread through email which contains the text message “andy; I’m just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry”. When the victim opens the mail the malicious code automatically downloaded and then steal the victim’s whole contacts of email. From where it spread to the victim’s friend, relatives, and colleagues. Honestly I have been a victim of this.

9.   CryptoLocker

CryptoLocker is a form of Trojan horse ransomware targeted at computers running Windows. It uses several methods to spread itself, such as email, and once a computer is infected, it will proceed to encrypt certain files on the hard drive and any mounted storage connected to it with RSA public key cryptography. While it is easy enough to remove the malware from the computer, the files will still remain encrypted. The only way to unlock the files is to pay a ransom by a deadline. If the deadline is not met, the ransom will increase significantly or the decryption keys deleted. The ransom usually amount to $400 in prepaid cash or bitcoin.

10.   FlashBack

The Trojan was first discovered in 2011 by antivirus company Intego as a fake Flash install. In its newer incarnation, a user simply needs to have Java enabled (which is likely the majority of us). It propagates itself by using compromised websites containing JavaScript code that will download the payload. Once installed, the Mac becomes part of a botnet of other infected Macs

The good news is that if it is infected, it is simply localized to that specific user’s account. The bad news is that more than 600,000 Macs were infected, including 274 Macs in the Cupertino area, the headquarters of Apple. Oracle published a fix for the exploit with Apple releasing an update to remove Flashback from people’s Mac.

Tips on protect your Computer from Virus

Even if you are not a computer expert, you can protect yourself from viruses and worms before they reach your machine. Here are some tips that you can follow:

• Keep an updated antivirus software installed and scan your computer
• Do not open e-mails from external sources, don’t open spammy links.
• Allow Windows to update, many time windows updates bring some security updates that could fix the existing flaws from your computer
• Don’t download software from unreliable sources.