1999: The "Melissa" worm makes a sudden appearance, screwing up specific e-mail programs by clogging them with infected e-mails issuing from the worm. It is the first successful mass-mailing worm.
Melissa was first distributed in alt.sex, a Usenet discussion group, hidden inside a file that contained the passwords to 80 pornographic websites. The worm was then sent by e-mail to the multitudes worldwide, spread mainly on the Microsoft 97 and 98 e-mail clients.
While the actual damage wrought by Melissa was minimal, the corporate herd mentality caused people to panic like startled wildebeests, leading many companies to shut down their internet connections with the outside world.
The worm's author, David L. Smith, named his creation, appropriately enough, after a lap dancer he had met in Florida. Smith used the alias Kwyjibo, but his identity was matched with virus writers VicodinES and Alt-F11, and he was eventually arrested.
Faced with a 10-year prison term, he served only 20 months and was fined $5,000.
Source: Sophos, Answers.com
This article first appeared on Wired.com March 26, 2007.
See Also:
- New Worm Attacks iPhones, Targets Mobile Banking
- Lazy Hacker and Little Worm Set Off Cyberwar Frenzy
- Conficker War Room! Your Front Row Seat for Cyber Armageddon
- Nov. 10, 1983: Computer 'Virus' Is Born
- March 26, 1845: A Sticky Application for an Old Problem
- March 26, 1850: Birth of a Socialist Sci-Fi Writer
- March 31, 1999: The Matrix Hooks Us
- July 3, 1999: Gobbling Up a 'Pac-Man' Record
- Sept. 9, 1999: 9/9/99 No Big Deal for Computers
