BRANDING SUCCESS STORIES

Sparrow

Computer Viruses

 2004
MyDoom spreads through emails and file-sharing software faster than any previous virus or worm. Allows hackers to access the hard drive of the infected computer. An estimated one million computers running Windows are affected by the fast-spreading Sasser computer worm. The worm does not cause irreparable harm to computers or data,

2006 2008

but it does slow computers and cause some to quit or reboot without explanation.

Discovery of the first-ever malware trojan horse for Mac OS X

Torpig is a Trojan horse which affects Windows, turning off antivirus applications. It allows others to access the computer, modifies data, steals
confidential information and installs malware on the victim's computer.

2009
Conficker infects anywhere from 9 to 15 million Microsoft server systems.
French air force, Royal Navy warships and submarines, Sheffield Hospital network, UK Ministry of Defence, German Bundeswehr and Norwegian Police were all affected.

Total Number of Viruses by year January 1985 1 January 1985 1 January 1987 3 January 1989 6 January 1990 142 January 1991 357 January 1992 1,161 January 1993 2,482 January 1994 3,687 January 1995 5,626 January 1996 7,764 January 1997 11,037 January 1998 16,726 January 1999 40,850 January 2000 44,000 January 2001 48,000 January 2002 55,000 January 2003 62,000

Melissa
Another virus that fired up the media was Melissa, a Word macro

virus. When people received the host Word document via email and opened it, the virus sent a copy of itself to the first 50 people in the victim's address book. Named after a topless dancer in Florida, the Melissa virus crashed the email servers of corporations and governments in different spots around the world. The Computer Emergency Response Team, set up after Robert Morris mucked up the Internet with his worm in 1988, estimated that the virus hit 100,000 computers in its first weekend. David L. Smith posted the infected file to an alt.sex usenet group using a stolen AOL account. Initially he entered a plea of innocence, but after being confronted with a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, he eventually pled guilty and received a muchreduced sentence.

Love You, Love Bug

By almost any measure, the so-called Love Bug was the most
damaging and costly virus ever. I don't know who comes up with these whack figures, but according to Reuters the bug cost the world $15 billion in lost productivity.

The Love Bug spread far faster than Melissa. Unlike Melissa,

it would mail itself to everyone in your Outlook address book -- most of whom would probably be delighted to read about how you love them -- not just the first fifty. Moreover, it would gobble up certain media files stored on your hard drive.

Did you know?

One German newspaper
tragically lost 2,000 pictures from its archive. The perpetrator turned out to be a 23-year-old Filipino computer science student who more or less plagiarized all of his code. The lack of laws in the Philippines covering computer crimes, he pretty much got away with his crime.

Prevention
Upload and use antivirus
software Be aware of the e-mails and attachments you open Check for updates on antivirus software regularly Make sure antivirus software is installed correctly

Sources
http://www.tech-faq.com/history-of-computer-viruses.shtml http://spamlaws.com/history.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus#History
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0872842.html

References
http://www.spamlaws.com/protect.html http://www.spamlaws.com/virus-types.html http://www.spamlaws.com/virus-comtypes.html http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/index.shtml http://www.spamlaws.com/virus-types.html Wikipedia www.suggestafix.com www.microsoft.com

Thank you!