January 19th is the 20th anniversary for the appearance of the first PC virus. Brain, a boot sector virus, was let loose in January 1986.
Brain was a relatively innocuous nuisance in contrast with modern Trojan, rootkits and other malware that make up today’s computer virus landscape.
The biggest change over the last 20 years has been in the motives of virus writers rather than in the types of malware they’ve cooked up, according to anti-virus firm F-Secure.
“The most significant change has been the evolution of virus writing hobbyists into criminally operated gangs bent on financial gain,” said F-Secure’s chief research officer Mikko Hypponen. “This trend is showing no signs of stopping.”
Source: The Register
Articles RSS