Most Dangerous and Destructive Cyber Viruses in History
August 3, 2021 August 24, 2021 - Cybersecurity
Our Experts have compiled the 5 most dangerous and harmful cyber viruses in history for you
Plug X Trojan
Stuxnet Worm
Zeus Gameover
MyDoom
A computer virus is a special code or program that is developed with malicious and destructive intent. It aims to inflict maximum damage to its victim's computer as well as has the capability to spread to other computers on its own. We have compiled information about the 5 most dangerous and destructive cyber viruses in history. Read about them below.
Plug X Trojan, also known as Korplug, is a specific type of malware identified as a Random Access Trojan (RAT). A RAT allows a hacker administrative privileges on an infected computer via backdoor exploits. The infected computer can then be used to attack other computers. Plug X is spread by phishing emails and malicious attachments.
The most notable victim of the Plug X Trojan is a Japanese travel company called JTB Corp. They identified an employee that opened a suspicious email and downloaded its attachments. This single attack cost JTB Corp millions of dollars in addition to almost 7.93 million user records being compromised. If adequate email security features were in place, this loss could've been avoided.
Stuxnet Worm was discovered in 2010, but experts claim it may have been spreading since 2005. This worm was designed to target a specific model of a Siemens Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). This PLC is used in nuclear facilities, chemical plants, and oil refineries.
The main victim of the Stuxnet worm was Iran's nuclear facilities. It was reported that this worm caused numerous nuclear centrifuges to burn themselves out at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility. Stuxnet spread via USB sticks and through Microsoft Windows PCs.
It belongs to the Zeus family of viruses and was first discovered in 2011. It was used to steal users' bank information, financial data, and account details. It infected a user's PC by spam messages and downloads. Once infected, it was able to bypass centralized servers and even create its own server to transmit information without the knowledge of the user. It is almost impossible to track and stop the Zeus virus from an infected computer.
Zeus was also involved with downloading ransomware on the target computer. This would encrypt all of the user's files and then demand a ransom for decrypting them.
It was discovered in 2013 as ransomware that affected millions of computers worldwide. It spread as a phishing scam and infected computers via malicious email attachments. It affected private companies, government departments, and large multinational corporations. The majority of its victims were based in the USA.
The FBI offered a reward of 3 million $ for information about Evgeniy Bogachev, the alleged creator of the cryptolocker. He was finally captured in June 2014. In the wake of this threat, businesses around the globe started investing in IT security infrastructure.
MyDoom is probably the most famous and destructive virus in history. It was discovered in 2004. It is written in C++ language and allegedly originated from Russia. It exploited several vulnerabilities in Windows PCs and created backdoor access for the hacker. The hacker would then use an infected computer to not only cause a DDoS attack but also further spread MyDoom.
MyDoom was the fastest spreading email-based virus that even attacked big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and SCO. In 2021, MyDoom accounts for almost 1% of global PC infections.
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