Top 10 Computer Viruses
Top 10 Computer Viruses 10. Melissa Combine the illicit thrill of an exotic dancer with the manipulative genius of a hacker and you have one of the worst computer viruses of all time. Melissa was created by David L. Smith, named for his favorite Friday Night Gal, and released into the world on March 26 th , 1999. Posing as an email attachment, the self-replicating virus activated when the malicious attachment was opened, then sent itself to the top 50 people in the email client contact list. The damage was so great that some companies had to shut down email programs until the virus was contained. Smith was convicted, fined $5,000 and spent 20 months in jail. Before Melissa, public knowledge of the detriment of malware was previously unknown. 9. ILOVEYOU/Love Letter Ironically named, this love letter was sent from the Philippines in May of 2000 and wreaked havoc on computers around the world. Beginning as an email that claimed the attachment contained h...