The 13 Scariest Computer Viruses

Posted 10/29/2010 at 12:39pm | by Paul Escallier

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It's that time of year again - when ghosts, ghouls, and goblins roam the street, when eating candy for breakfast is perfectly acceptable, and scaring the ever-loving crap out of your friends is encouraged...Obviously, we've got Halloween on the brain (Editors Note: braaaaaaiiins!), we've been screening Dead Set in the photo lab all week, our costumed coworkers are prowling the halls and everyone's got a good sugar buzz on. But our favorite part of Halloween isn't the candy - it's the creepy, crawly, chilling parts. And a computer virus is just as scary as a zombie outbreak. Below, we count down the 13 scariest computer viruses.

                       One botnet, two botnet, hahahaha!

13: ILOVEYOU Worm

The ILOVEYOU Worm was just a simple Visual Basic Script that wreaked havoc on just about every file on your hard drive. As if that weren’t devious enough, the ILOVEYOU Worm really shows off its demented roots with its method of deliveries: disguising itself as a love letter. It proved to be an extremely effective way to infect systems, claiming over 50 million victims in little over a month. We geeks tend to be a somewhat lonely bunch, and it’s just unfair to entice us with promises of love.

12: Here You Have Worm

Even though the ILOVEYOU Worm was defeated ten years ago, its spirit lives on. Just a few months ago, the “Here you have” Worm tricked recipients into opening e-mail attachments claiming to be work-related documents. Fortunately, improved software security prevented this virus from being significantly successful, but its familiar delivery tactics remind us of the heartbreak of reformatting our beloved computers ten years ago.

11: FakeAlert Trojans

FakeAlert Trojans have become alarmingly common lately, showing up in a multitude of flavors, such as Internet Security 2010, Antivirus 2011, Desktop Security 2010, and Security Essentials 2010. They infect their victims by creating advertisements that look like very convincing virus alerts. Clicking the ad then installs the “antivirus” program, which is actually the virus. Corporate and family computers are the most common victims, simply because workers and children are too embarrassed to admit they stumbled upon a virus and attempt to repair it themselves. Why is this so scary? Well, who do you think has to fix all these computers? Us, the computer geeks

10: Alureon

The Alureon virus has come and gone over the years, but it is making another comeback by bundling itself with various FakeAlert Trojans. While its MO isn’t all that different from most Trojans, stealing passwords and credit card info, and causing Blue Screens of Death, it also does something very annoying. Alureon can hijack your search engine, turning simple Google quarries into links to even more viruses. Because it can redirect any link in your web browser, it makes downloading removal tools extremely difficult if you don’t have a spare computer.

9: Fake Virus of Doom

Geeks have been pulling silly computer pranks on each other for as long as there have been computers. Some of the pranks are simple, like taking a screenshot of someone’s desktop, setting it as the wallpaper, and then hiding all of his desktop icons. Others are a bit more complex, like the Fake Virus of Doom. Just placing a simple flash video into your buddy’s Startup folder is all it takes to scare the crap out of him.

8: Kenzero

Kenzero is a recent virus, first popping up just a couple months ago. It’s not particularly prevalent, nor is it particularly destructive. Because it is distributed through P2P networks, the majority of its targets are those partaking in illegal file sharing, sort of like a villainous hero, but its MO is a bit more disturbing. Kenzero monitors and records the victims browsing habits and threatens to post them to the public unless the victim purchases certain items or installs certain programs. It’s a bit frightening and unsettling to think that our private lives can be exposed by a virus.

7: BooNana

Mac commercials are always telling us that OSX is the most secure operating system available, completely impervious to viruses. Of course we all know that it isn’t true, but Mac systems do have the advantage of being less of a target. The BooNana virus is evidence that the tides are starting to turn. BooNana itself is a problem enough, commandeering your Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts, but the scariest thought is considering what all of these upcoming viruses might do with all of the magic that Steve Jobs has put into the Apple line.