The 13 Scariest Computer Viruses

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

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6: iKee

Another virus targeting an Apple device! iKee isn’t a particularly malevolent virus (more of an exhibition really). It targets users with jailbroken iPhones and performs a sort of Rickroll, changing the background to a photo of Rick Astley. iKee doesn’t affect those running official Apple firmware, but some may argue that succumbing to the will of Apple is worse than making yourself vulnerable to hackers.

5: AndroidOS FakePlayer

With jailbroken iPhones being Rickrolled and open to certain forms of attack, it’s not surprising to hear that Google’s Android OS is susceptible to viruses as well. FakePlayer was the first virus to be discovered targeting Android OS. It spread in the form of a Trojan disguised as a media player, and once installed, it began sending SMS messages to charge-per-text phone numbers, raking in profits for the scammers and sending your phone through the roof. Not even our smartphones are safe anymore!

4: Mariposa Botnet

While it wasn’t the result of any single virus, the Mariposa Botnet was a very large network of over 13 million zombified PCs, and even though it was dismantled and its creators arrested earlier this year, one very scary fact still remains: the entire Mariposa Botnet was created by just a couple of amateur hackers using Kiddie Scripts. It used to be that only a handful of people in the world had the knowledge that it took to create such a complex network of bots, but now anyone with a basic understanding of computer programming and access to the write scripts can accomplish the same thing.

3: Storm Worm 2

The first Storm Worm, from back in 2007, is probably one of the most notorious Botnets of recent history. In its heyday, the Storm Worm Botnet was estimated to be running on as many as 50 million computers, making it even more powerful than the top ten supercomputers of the time combined. The original implementation of the Storm Worm Botnet has been on a steep decline, ironically due to hackers making use of the systems for themselves, but earlier this year, McAfee confirmed that a second version of Storm Worm is on the rise.

2: Stuxnet

Stuxnet is a worm that popped its ugly head up back in June of this year. On the surface, it’s just your run-of-the-mill virus, making use of standard exploits to spread and infect systems, stealing data and wreaking havoc. Things get a bit scarier as you look deeper into the code, though. Stuxnet is actually capable of reprogramming Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). While home computers are essentially unaffected, industrial, and even military systems, rely heavily on PLC configurations. Stuxnet could be considered to be a very rudimentary version of Skynet.

1: Skynet

Speaking of Skynet, that brings us to our number one scariest computer virus of all. As everything in our lives becomes integrated with everything else, all tied together with a tangle of wires in cyberspace, it’s just a matter of time before every aspect of our lives to become vulnerable to cyber attacks. Encryptions, firewalls and cyber security will increase of course, but how can you stop an evil, super intelligent computer system intent on destroying the world as we know it? We must send the Governator of California back in time!