Worst Viruses Ever
- Thread starter Warren1
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Anderwolfe
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I haven't seen an actual virus in quite a while.
Now it's all just that fake virus scanner malware crap.
Now it's all just that fake virus scanner malware crap.
What do you mean by "worse"? You could classify the "worst" into all sorts of different categories - those that do the most damage, those that slip past the AV too easily, and those that are a nightmare to remove.
That said, overall rootkits are probably the worse since good ones are damn hard to detect and you can never really be sure you've got rid of them without a format.
I suspect it's more of a moot question now than a decade or 2 ago - a lot of people (me included) just tend to reformat if they get any virus now anyway because it's so easy. Back in the days when external hard drives cost a fortune, CD writers cost tends of thousands and internal hard drives required a bewildering array of jumpers and BIOS settings before they'd even think about being recognised - then it was much more hassle! Oh the days when you'd be sitting there with a 6ft stack of 3.5" floppy disks...
That said, overall rootkits are probably the worse since good ones are damn hard to detect and you can never really be sure you've got rid of them without a format.
I suspect it's more of a moot question now than a decade or 2 ago - a lot of people (me included) just tend to reformat if they get any virus now anyway because it's so easy. Back in the days when external hard drives cost a fortune, CD writers cost tends of thousands and internal hard drives required a bewildering array of jumpers and BIOS settings before they'd even think about being recognised - then it was much more hassle! Oh the days when you'd be sitting there with a 6ft stack of 3.5" floppy disks...
A mere technicality really but I still feel it's worth mentioning.
A "virus" is a specific thing: "A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another..." --Wikipedia entry on "computer virus"...always have to take wikipedia with a grain of salt but this actually hits the nail on the head.
I believe you meant "Worst malware ever?"...and I think I'd have to give my nomination to that the stupid adware/malware/fake antivirus crap that screws with the registry so every time you try to run an executable file (.exe...eg: msconfig.exe, regedit.exe, etc), it says "<insert file here> is infected and can not be run. Please buy this crap to fix it" or similar. It gets my vote not because it's particularly destructive but because it's a bit pain in the ass and I'm seeing it become more and more common. I've been running into things like this quite a bit recently.
The most horrible, God awful thing I know of is rootkit malware. I've never run across it thankfully but, from what I've read, some can be VERY difficult to remove. Some will resurface even after a clean OS install...
And, Root...can I change my name to su? :-D
A "virus" is a specific thing: "A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another..." --Wikipedia entry on "computer virus"...always have to take wikipedia with a grain of salt but this actually hits the nail on the head.
I believe you meant "Worst malware ever?"...and I think I'd have to give my nomination to that the stupid adware/malware/fake antivirus crap that screws with the registry so every time you try to run an executable file (.exe...eg: msconfig.exe, regedit.exe, etc), it says "<insert file here> is infected and can not be run. Please buy this crap to fix it" or similar. It gets my vote not because it's particularly destructive but because it's a bit pain in the ass and I'm seeing it become more and more common. I've been running into things like this quite a bit recently.
The most horrible, God awful thing I know of is rootkit malware. I've never run across it thankfully but, from what I've read, some can be VERY difficult to remove. Some will resurface even after a clean OS install...
And, Root...can I change my name to su? :-D
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Warren1
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Ok, I feel I was too vague when I created this thread. I think it would be better suited to distribute them in 4 categories:
Most Destructive (Viruses that Harm your Computer, Malware, Nukers)
Fastest Spreading (Code Red, Fast Spreading Viruses)
Worst Identity Theft (Viruses that Collect Personal Information like Credit Cards and Sensitive Information, Spyware)
Hardest to Get Rid Of (Viruses that are incredibly hard to get off your system, Viruses that require a reformat to fully wipe off your system)
I think a combination of these four would be a really bad virus, so I wonder what viruses fulfill most of this criteria or are the worst in their category.
Most Destructive (Viruses that Harm your Computer, Malware, Nukers)
Fastest Spreading (Code Red, Fast Spreading Viruses)
Worst Identity Theft (Viruses that Collect Personal Information like Credit Cards and Sensitive Information, Spyware)
Hardest to Get Rid Of (Viruses that are incredibly hard to get off your system, Viruses that require a reformat to fully wipe off your system)
I think a combination of these four would be a really bad virus, so I wonder what viruses fulfill most of this criteria or are the worst in their category.
I think that fastest spreading still goes to SQL Slammer.
90% of possible infection covered in a very short time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Slammer
and I say that it changed the way that people work, before SQL slammer people were less clued up about firewalls, port 1433 was often just left open, and that's how the worms spread.
the patch to fix had been about for months, and not even MS had installed it.
after this people started putting up better firewalls, people developed patching strategies, (though conflicker outbreaks may suggest that the last lesson was soon forgotten)
90% of possible infection covered in a very short time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Slammer
and I say that it changed the way that people work, before SQL slammer people were less clued up about firewalls, port 1433 was often just left open, and that's how the worms spread.
the patch to fix had been about for months, and not even MS had installed it.
after this people started putting up better firewalls, people developed patching strategies, (though conflicker outbreaks may suggest that the last lesson was soon forgotten)
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Warren1
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I did look up SQL Slammer after your first post and it does look pretty bad, but wikipedia does say that it can only infect home computers with MSDE installed. Even though, it is still pretty bad and it probabbly ties with Code Red (since Code Red did launch a DOS at the White House).