Today marks the 26th birthday of the computer virus. On November 10th 1983 Fred Cohen, a University of Southern California graduate student, provided a proof-of-concept during a security seminar at Lehigh University. 26 years later the computer virus is still going strong.
My first virus
I recall my first computer virus experience, “Melissa“, back in 1999. I was working for another company in London at the time and we started getting lots of email with the same subject line from multiple European and far eastern affiliates. Before long, many of our users were sending loads of email out that they never initiated. Our network admin “pulled the plug” on our local Exchange server until he could resolve the issue. I called our US headquarters to give them a heads-up but they still had numerous users opening and infecting their mail systems. That was a wake up call and dealing with email-borne malware provided an experience that I’ll never forget.
My how you’ve grown!
Email malware has gotten a lot nastier since then. It presents huge problems for users and admins. Computers can be hijacked and used for nefarious purposes. Information can be stolen and bank accounts drained. The FBI has released a warning about the threat to online cyber fraud. Some figures estimate cyber fraud losses to be upwards of $100 million year-to-date.
About Mailprotector
Mailprotector’s services have been squashing spam, viruses, Trojans, phishing attacks and other email-borne malware for nearly 10 years. It’s affordable, easy to set up and simple to use.
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