This fall marks the 40th birthday of the Internet, and to celebrate it, Symantec, the manufacturer of online Security software, has put out a list of the "Top Web Threats in the History of the Internet."
Symantec has an interest, of course, in bringing you this treat. The company hopes the memory of worms gone by will entice you to buy its software to protect yourself.
But it's still an interesting list, and you may enjoy arguing with it, suggesting additions, even remembering times past -- unless, of course, your computer was hit by one of these worms or viruses.
So here goes. The descriptions are Symantec's.
1. I Love You (2000) -- Who wouldn't open an e-mail with "I Love You" in the subject line? Well, that was the problem. By May 2000, 50 million infections of this worm had been reported. The Pentagon, the CIA, and the British Parliament all had to shut down their e-mail systems in order to purge the threat.
2. Conficker (2009) -- The Conficker worm has created a secure, worldwide infrastructure for cybercrime. The worm allows its creators to remotely install software on infected machines. What will that software do? We don't know. Most likely the worm will be used to create a botnet that will be rented out to criminals who want to send SPAM, steal IDs and direct users to online scams and phishing sites.
3. Melissa (1999) -- Melissa was an exotic dancer, and David L. Smith was obsessed with her and also with writing viruses. The virus he named after Melissa and released to the world on March 26, 1999, kicked off a period of high-profile threats that rocked the Internet between 1999 and 2005.
4. Slammer (2003) -- This fast-moving worm managed to temporarily bring much of the Internet to its knees in January 2003. The threat was so aggressive that it was mistaken by some countries to be an organized attack against them.
5. Nimda (2001) -- A mass-mailing worm that uses multiple methods to spread itself, within 22 minutes, Nimda became the Internet's most widespread worm. The name of the virus came from the reversed spelling of "admin."
今年秋天標(biāo)志因特網(wǎng)的 40 歲生日,為了慶祝它,賽門鐵克這家網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全軟件的制造商發(fā)布了一個(gè)"在因特網(wǎng)歷史中的頂級(jí)網(wǎng)絡(luò)威脅"欄目。
賽門鐵克公司當(dāng)然有興趣把這種款待帶給你。這個(gè)公司希望網(wǎng)絡(luò)蠕蟲走過(guò)的記憶會(huì)吸引你購(gòu)買它的軟件來(lái)保護(hù)自己。
但是,它仍然是一個(gè)有趣的清單,你可能樂意和它爭(zhēng)議,提出建議補(bǔ)充,甚至記住過(guò)去的時(shí)代--當(dāng)然,除非你的電腦受到過(guò)一個(gè)這樣的蠕蟲或病毒的攻擊。
所以開始吧。下面是賽門鐵克公司的敘述。
1. 我愛你病毒(2000年)--誰(shuí)不想打開一封在主題行里帶有"我愛你"的電子郵件呢? 好了,這就是問題所在。2000 年 5 月前,報(bào)告有 5 千萬(wàn)例感染這個(gè)蠕蟲。為了清除這個(gè)威脅,五角大樓、中央情報(bào)局和英國(guó)議會(huì)都必須關(guān)閉他們的電子郵件系統(tǒng)。
2. 愚人節(jié)病毒(2009年)--愚人節(jié)病毒蠕蟲已經(jīng)創(chuàng)造出一套安心地用于網(wǎng)絡(luò)犯罪的全球基礎(chǔ)結(jié)構(gòu)。這個(gè)蠕蟲讓它的創(chuàng)造者可以在受感染的機(jī)器上遠(yuǎn)程安裝軟件。這個(gè)軟件做什么呢? 我們不知道。最有可能地是可以用這個(gè)蠕蟲來(lái)創(chuàng)建一個(gè)僵尸網(wǎng)絡(luò),將它租給想要送出垃圾郵件、偷竊證件的犯罪人員,進(jìn)行網(wǎng)上詐騙的直接用戶,以及網(wǎng)絡(luò)釣魚網(wǎng)站。
3. 梅利莎病毒(1999年)--梅麗莎是一位脫衣舞女,大衛(wèi)?L·史密斯迷戀她并且也寫作病毒。他以梅麗莎命名這個(gè)病毒并且在 1999 年 3 月 26 日向世界公布,開始了一段引人注目的威脅,在 1999 年至 2005 年間震撼了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。
4. 速客一號(hào)病毒(2003年)--2003 年 1 月,這個(gè)快速移動(dòng)的蠕蟲設(shè)法暫時(shí)地使大部份的網(wǎng)路向它屈服。威脅是那樣的咄咄逼人,以致一些國(guó)家認(rèn)為是對(duì)他們的一次有組織的攻擊。
5.尼姆達(dá)病毒(2001年)--一一種集合的郵件蠕蟲,采用多種方法來(lái)傳播自己,在 22 分鐘內(nèi),尼姆達(dá)成為互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上最普遍的蠕蟲。該病毒的名字來(lái)自于反拼寫的"admin".