Ever since the dawn of the digital age, hackers have been coding all sorts of malicious software. Some are just annoying pranks while others are so disastrous they disrupt entire infrastructures and cause millions of dollars in damages. To prevent yourself from such damage, it’s advisable to get the latest antivirus and antimalware software installed in your PC. You can get it done by contacting Augusta Computer Experts in Atlanta GA.

Now let’s take a look at some of the most destructive and damaging viruses ever to attack our computers.

Sobig

This was a series of computer worms that infected millions of computers back in 2003. This virus held the record for the most transmitted virus in history infecting up to a million computer systems within a single day. The virus was engineered brilliantly to form mail servers into letting it through as a legit non spam message. Upon opening would send copies of itself to the users’ entire email list. The creators of this virus are still unknown. Microsoft has offered $250,000 for info leading up to their capture.

Computers Infected: Millions

Financial Damages: Up to $1 Billion.

Code Red

This 2001 virus was discovered by employees of a digital security company while drinking Code Red Mountain Dew, hence its name. It spread through computers that use Microsoft’s web server and exploited the system buffer overflow problem. It was extremely difficult to detect as its size was only about 3 KBs and ran mostly on memory instead of disk space. Once activated it would replicate itself uncontrollably and eat up a lot of system’s resources. Code Red gained infamy when it infected the White House’s server and put down the US government’s website. No culprits have been found.

Computers Infected: More than a million

Financial Damages: $2 Billion

Mebroot

This is a sophisticated Trojan horse that started spreading around 2007. The way Mebroot works in your computer is when you visit a malicious website. It overwrites your master reboot record enabling it to tell your computer what to do upon startup. It worked silently by looking in your browser, keeping track of all the information you type in; your passwords, your account number and every website you visit. Within a year Mebroot managed to steal info from over half a million bank accounts. The virus creators are still at large.

Computers Infected: 0.5 Million

Financial Damages: $2 Billion

Leap

Many Apple fan boys claim that Mac computers are impenetrable to viruses. By running a tightly closed system Apple has managed to protect its software, preventing hackers from getting into their system as easily as they could with normal PCs. But the myth of their invincibility was shattered with the debut of leap in 2006. This virus utilized Apple’s iChat instant messaging program. Once a Mac is infected it will send a message to other users in the iChat contact list in order to propagate itself. With this virus it became clear that Mac PCs aren’t as impenetrable as we thought.

Slammer

On the 25^th of January 2003, the entire internet broke down in South Korea for 12 hours. The virus also infected other things around the world such as airlines or bank ATMs. Connections either stopped completely or became extremely slow even for 2003 standards and all this was caused by Slammer, a worm that specifically targeted Microsoft SQL servers by taking advantage of a bug present in the software. The people behind it were never caught. Microsoft had actually released the patch much earlier before it had spread but not many had installed it yet.

Computers Infected: Up to 10 Million

Financial Damages: $1.2 Billion

It’s essential to get your PC fully safe and secured with the latest antivirus software installed in your PC. For that matters, contact Augusta Computer Experts who are the best Virus Removal Service Providers in town.  .