5 Worst Computer Viruses That Affect Businesses

Over the years there have been countless creations of viruses, trojans, malware, etc. All of which have vastly different delivery and execution methodologies to ultimately cause destruction and/or theft to both organizations and individuals. Below are some of the most notable viruses ever developed.

1. Mydoom-2004

Mydoom (A.K.A. Novarg) was the worst computer virus outbreak in history. It caused an estimated damage of $38 billion in 2004, but the inflation-adjusted cost is actually $52.2 billion. Technically, it is a worm, which is spread by mass emailing. Mydoom scraped addresses from infected machines, then sent copies of itself to those addresses. These attacks were intended to shut down a target website or server. Mydoom still constitutes about 1% of all phishing emails. This is a substantial number considering 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent each day. Even though a reward was offered, the Mydoom developer was never caught.

2. Sobig-2003

The Sobig virus is really another worm. The figure for worldwide damage is $30 billion. Several versions of the worm were released in quick succession. Named Sobig.A through Sobig.F, with Sobig.F being the most damaging. This cybercriminal program disguised itself as legitimate computer software attached to emails. It disrupted ticketing at Air Canada and interfered with countless other businesses. The creator was never caught.

3. Klez-2001

Klez Caused $20 billion in estimated damages, and infected about 7.2% of all computers in 2001. Klez also released several versions. It infected files, copied itself, and spread throughout each victim’s network. Each version was more ruthless than the last.

4. ILOVEYOU-2000

This virus sent a fake “love letter” that appeared to be a text file. This virus was similar to Mydoom because it copied of itself to every infected machine’s contact list. At one point it had infected over 10 million PC’s. The virus creator used this virus to steal passwords to log into free online services.

5. WannaCry-2017

The WannaCry computer virus is ransomware. This is a virus that holds your computer (or cloud files) hostage. This ransomware seized computers in 150 countries. This caused substantial productivity losses for businesses, hospitals, and government organizations that did not pay. Those business were forced to rebuild systems from scratch. Computers with out-of-date operating systems were particularly hit hard. That’s why security experts always recommend updating your systems frequently.

Other Common Threats:

Besides viruses, there are several malicious computer threats to your business. Threats can come in the form of Social Engineering, Ransomware or Phishing. See this further reading: 6 Common Mistakes Accounting Firms Make Leaving Them Open to Hackers.

The message about protecting yourself against viruses:

No computer network is ever 100% safe. It is important to be proactive and safeguard your business. By using cloud services, you can be sure that your most important data is constantly being backed up. At Summit Hosting, we provide the latest virus protection available for your data. With this protection, you never have to worry about the destruction that malware, ransomware, or other malicious computer constructs can cause to your business.