Today, those threats seem quaint as security professionals grapple with the likes of ransomware such WannaCry, which infected more than 300,000 systems across the globe in less than a day. Consumers and businesses used good antivirus software that searched computers for known entities and was updated monthly, weekly and, eventually, daily. The fix for these computer bugs was simple.
In subsequent decades, more aggressive viruses were introduced that attacked a user’s contact list and overwrote files. The Brain virus, one of the earliest forms of ransomware (though its creators would remove it for free), went worldwide over a short period of time. In 1986, the first malicious virus was discovered. Some even say the first viruses were designed as practical jokes. The first viruses or worms were less harmful, designed to slow a system down or annoy other users. Choose your weapon: Staying ahead of the cyberthreats of today and tomorrow.Ĭyberthreats and attacks have been a negative side effect of our computer age for more than three decades.
