Tag: worm

Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Happy mail? Not so much back in 1999

Tech Time Warp: Happy mail? Not so much back in 1999

In this edition of Tech Time Warp we see how the email users of January 1999 were an innocent bunch. Fresh from seeing “You’ve Got Mail” at the box office, they received emails with the attachment Happy99.exe. They thought nothing...

/ January 19, 2024
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Father Christmas leaves a lump of coal for NASA

Tech Time Warp: Father Christmas leaves a lump of coal for NASA

These days, there seems to be a festive seasonal version of everything. Even items you never dreamed possible (such as cat litter). Malware is no exception. In this edition of Tech Time Warp, we look back at 35 years ago,...

/ December 22, 2023
Cybersecurity Threat Advisory
Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: ‘LittleDrifter’ extends its reach

Cybersecurity Threat Advisory: ‘LittleDrifter’ extends its reach

This Cybersecurity Threat Advisory sheds light on a recently discovered USB worm identified as “LittleDrifter” has been attributed to the Russia-linked hacker group known as Gamaredon. The worm has spread beyond its presumed intended target, Ukraine, to other countries including...

/ November 28, 2023
Tech Time Warp
Tech Time Warp: Nimda worm slows traffic with multiple propagation methods

Tech Time Warp: Nimda worm slows traffic with multiple propagation methods

In this week’s Tech Time Warp, we look back to September 2001. While the world was reeling from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, hackers unleashed a new threat: a worm that could modify existing websites to trick users into downloading malware....

/ September 15, 2023
Tech Time Warp: The Kriz virus was no Kris Kringle

Tech Time Warp: The Kriz virus was no Kris Kringle

Even cybercriminals get into the holiday spirit. Over the years, network administrators have dealt with the likes of the CHRISTMA EXEC, the Father Christmas worm, and the Santy worm when they would have rather been drinking eggnog. In December 2000,...

/ December 16, 2022
Tech Time Warp: Koobface Worms Its Way Through Facebook

Tech Time Warp: Koobface Worms Its Way Through Facebook

For this week’s Tech Time Warp, we’re going back to August 2008—when you were still juggling Facebook and MySpace profiles—unsuspecting social networkers found their machines infected by Koobface, a particularly nasty computer worm. Koobface (an anagram for Facebook) caught its victims...

/ July 29, 2022
Tech Time Warp: Another dark side to a P2P network

Tech Time Warp: Another dark side to a P2P network

Leaving aside those pesky copyright concerns, the users of file-sharing peer-to-peer (P2P) networks such as Napster, Gnutella, Limewire, and the like thought they had some pretty cool tools on their hands. But in addition to attracting the ire of the...

/ November 19, 2021
Tech Time Warp: The One-Two-Three Viral Punch of August 2003

Tech Time Warp: The One-Two-Three Viral Punch of August 2003

August qualifies as the dog days of summer. It’s a good time to take it easy and use some PTO.  But that’s not something the network administrators of 2003 could do, thanks to an onslaught of viruses. August 2003 brought...

/ August 20, 2021
Tech Time Warp: Father Christmas worm visits NASA

Tech Time Warp: Father Christmas worm visits NASA

Even hackers get into the holiday spirit. The Santy worm brought unwelcome gifts in December 2004, and the CHRISTMA EXEC brought a charming ASCII tree to screens in 1987. On December 22, 1988, the Father Christmas worm traveled to NASA...

/ December 25, 2020
The Creeper and the Reaper make cybersecurity history

The Creeper and the Reaper make cybersecurity history

“I’M THE CREEPER. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.” This eerie message is the equivalent of “hello, world!” in cybersecurity history. In 1971, Bob Thomas, an engineer at BBN Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, developed the first computer worm, dubbed the “Creeper.”

/ October 16, 2020