Most Destructive Computer Virus of All Time

ILOVEYOU a.k.a. Lovebug/Loveletter Virus

The ILOVEYOU virus was a computer virus that many consider to be the most damaging virusever written. It spread itself by email in 2000through an attachment in the message. Once opened, it loaded itself to the memory, infecting executable files. When a user received and opened the email containing the attachment“LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.txt.vbs”, the computer became automatically infected. It then spread itself by infecting executable files, image files, as well as audio files like MP3s. After that, the virus sent itself to others by looking up the addresses contained in the MS Outlook contact list. The virus was written by aFilipino programmer who was still a college student at that time. He said the release of the virus was only “accidental.” This virus spread throughout the world in just a day, infecting computers of large corporations and governments, including the Pentagon in the United States. It caused billions of dollars in damages. The actual “damage” occurred during the removal of the infection from computers, as email servers and computer networks had to be shut down before the virus could be removed.