‘Vintage’ viruses return to computers
The fact that the computer is infected with a computer virus is today synonymous with disbursement of money. The vast majority of malware (or malicious code) that circulates on the internet seeks a direct financial reward, for example by encrypting data and asking for a reward for releasing it ( ransomware ). In some cases, the victim will only find out that they have been attacked when they see the amounts stolen from their checking account.
Viruses were not always this discreet. At the dawn of the consumer computing age, malware was more of a pastime for early hackers; a way of demonstrating your knowledge and putting yourself to the test. Its display was very visual: colorful lights invaded the screen at a frantic pace, cascades of windows opening incessantly, letters falling to the bottom of the monitor; Apparitions of ships, marijuana leaves, naked women, supposedly funny messages … Those infected were harmed, who could lose all their data, but they were not plucked.
Times have changed so much in the world of viruses that there are true nostalgics of the first malware . Among them the Texan Daniel White (Danooct1), who has almost 300,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. It shows what happens when a computer is infected with any of these malicious codes .__ AOPEN__0 In its most watched video, , which exceeds 4.5 million views, you can see how the windows of the YouAreAnIdiot Trojan are displayed incessantly until the computer restarts. He has also made demonstrations with more recent examples, such as the media Wannacry or NotPetya , from 2017. And he has even recorded experimenting with viruses developed for the occasion by his own followers.
The virus as a form of
expression “I think I will have taught how about 400 different malware works. I especially like the flashier ones. The ones that affected MS-DOS and early Windows were especially known for that, ”explains White from Dallas. “Although the majority of malware from the last 15 years is silent and financially motivated, the common perception of viruses still conjures up the mental image of airplanes flying across the screen, windows with rude messages, and the random and total destruction of…
