What is a virus

In computing, a computer virus is a malicious program developed by programmers that infects a system to carry out a certain action. It can damage the file system, steal or hijack information, or make copies of itself and try to spread to other computers using various means. computersmarketing

The term used to encompass all these codes is malware, formed by the union of the words malicious and software, that is, malicious software. Currently, there are many types of viruses (malware), with characteristic behaviors that allow them to be classified into different categories.

These small computer programs have the ability to incorporate ("infect") their code into other programs, files, or systems and use them to make copies of themselves. The term "computer virus" was installed in 1983 by the American electrical engineer Fred Cohen, who concluded his doctorate in 1986 with a work on this topic. hollyhealthfitness

The name was inspired by biological viruses, the smallest known form of life, that reproduce by infecting a cell and using its genetic material to create new specimens. Today there are many types of viruses, classified according to their actions or characteristics, such as file-infecting viruses, boot viruses, macro viruses, network viruses, script viruses, stealth, polymorphic, etc. answerhop

The origin of computer viruses

Looking to carry out different damages, either for the theft of sensitive information or to generate chaos in computer systems, the first computer viruses were born almost at the same time as the development of computer software , and that is why the evolution of both are intrinsically linked. healthbeautystudio

 

In the beginning, computer viruses were created on time to be able to replace executable files on a computer , thus modifying the code of said files, in order to make the activity of the computers errant or change without the permission of the users.

The central objectives of the first computer viruses were similar to today's malware, that is, to attack the information stored on a computer in order to destroy, damage or steal it for criminal purposes. webtechgalaxy

Regarding the origins of computer viruses, although there are various references that indicate, among other things, that their first appearance was at the end of the 1960s , the truth is that the anecdote tells that at that time a group of developers of Bell aT & T designed a game that nested in the computer memory and whose behavior was similar to what today is known as computer virus.

Now, the first computer virus is considered to be the malware that attacked an IBM 360 Series computer in 1972. Popularly known as "Creeper", it was malicious software that when infecting the computer showed all the days the message: "I'm the creeper ... catch me if you can!", which in Spanish means something like "I'm a creeper! ... Catch me if you can!"

At that time it was necessary to create a computer antidote to end the annoyance caused by this first virus, and that is how what is known as the first antivirus software in history emerged , a program called "Reaper".

However, it took about a decade for the term "computer virus" to be coined , which occurred in 1984, after which computer viruses or malware have become common currency.

It is enough to mention some of the most famous of the last decades to show the mark that many of them have left in the history of computing and information technology due to the profound damage that they managed to cause in their moment of greatest expansion .

In addition to the aforementioned Creeper, among the most famous computer viruses in history we find "Melissa" from 1999, which is considered the first malware spread through email , which in a short time managed to contaminate millions of computers around the world.

Another of the best known was undoubtedly the so-called "I love you" which in 2000 managed to infect more than 45 million computers through an email that included an attachment entitled "A love letter to you". and that the moment the unsuspecting user executed said file, the virus process began, which was also automatically forwarded to all of the user's contacts.

When mentioning one of the most harmful viruses in history, we may have to mention the so-called “Sasser”, which in 2004 attacked Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems , infecting around 250 thousand computers, and thus putting several companies around the world on alert.

We can add to this list the best known computer viruses so far due to the damage they caused when they were spread to Concept from 1995, Code Red from 2001, Slammer from 2003, Netsky from 2004, Storm from 2007 and Conficker from 2008.