Silicon Updates: Most Horrible security breaches in the history of the Internet

Data security is the major challenge of data scientists and security even today. There have been many security breaches from the day internet started emerging. Several serial attacks created ripples over the internet. This article lists the top 5 malware that has affected millions of devices.

Melissa virus:
Melissa is the virus that infects a PC through an e-mail with the subject "Important Message From <email address of the account from which the virus was sent>". And the body of the mail will be seen as :Here is that document you asked for ... don't show anyone else ;-)". Also, an attachment with the list of pornographic websites along with the credentials will be seen.

Melissa Virus

When infected, the virus checks if Microsoft Office registry key, if it is set to Kwyjibo. If the value is not set, the virus sends the same mail to the first fifty contacts available in the address book. The virus has spread across the internet and caused more than $1.1 billion worldwide. It is expected that more than 1,00,000 computers across 300 organisations have been affected.
ILOVEYOU worm:
The ILOVEYOU worm is also called Love bug or Love Letter. On 5th May 2000, the Love bug has affected more than tens of millions of Windows PCs. The worm spreads through e-mail, with the subject 'I Love You', along with the attachment named 'LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.txt.vbs'.

ILoveYou worm

The virus started spreading from Philippines, through corporate e-mails across the corporate world. The loss was estimated to be $5.5-8.7 billion USD. On the other hand, the estimated cost of recovering out of this virus $15 billion USD.
MyDoom worm:
MyDoom worm is also called W23.MyDoom@mm, Novarg, Mimail.R and "Shimgapi". MyDoom worm was first discovered on 26th January, 2004. Just like the other infections, MyDoom has also spread through e-mails. The e-mail consists of a text message andy; I'm just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry,". The source of the worm is still unknown, but is was expected to be originated from Russia.

MyDoom worm

The worm was initially created for exploit the SCO group of companies, and later it has spread across the internet. The worm was designed to attack a system through Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The worm caused more than $38 billion USD of loss across the world. As a result of the attack, the SCO website www.sco.com was suspended for two weeks. The traces of affection of MyDoom were found even in 2009 in South Korea and the US.
Stuxnet worm:
Though Stuxnet was identified in 2010, it was estimated that the first infection dated back in 2005. The major affect of Stuxnet was caused to Iran's nuclear program, that resulted in complete shutdown of the nuclear system. According to the officials, the worm was jointly developed by American-Israeli cyberweapon. The targets of Stuxnet are the electromechanical processes under automation, called Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), based on Windows OS.

Stuxnet Worm

The Stuxnet comes with three modules - a worm, a link file and a rootkit. The worm executes the malicious code on the PC, the link file generates copies of the worms for more infection and the rootkit hides all the malicious processes from the user. After the attack, Siemens has released a detection and removal tool for Stuxnet.
WannaCry ransomware:
WannaCry ransomware is the recent bombardment in the internet. It has affected the systems operating with Windows XP. The WannaCry malware is infected more than 2,30,000 PCs across 150 countries. Once a system is infected by WannaCry malware, it restarts the PC and then encrypts all the files on the computer. This encryption will be released only when paid the demanded ransom to the attackers.

WannaCry ransomware

Starting from UK's National Health Service (NHS), many of the systems are infected by WannaCry, even in India. On the account of this attack, though Microsoft has halted the support for Windows XP, it has released patches against WannaCry attack. The attack of this ransomware was started on 12th May, 2017. You can read more about the WannaCry ransomware here.
There are many other viruses, malware and ransomware that caused security breaches. But, the damage caused by the malware/worms/viruses is irreplaceable. You can also read about CopyCat malware, Petya ransomware, TrickBot malware, Fireball malware, and Judy malware.