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Creeper - Potentially First Ever Virus and/or Malware
Around the early 1970s a virus called Creeper spread throughout the Arpanet, the predecessor to the internet we know today. It creeped through modems and was designed for the Tenex OS. Systems that were hit would display "I'M THE CREEPER : CATCH ME IF YOU CAN."
https://encyclopedia.kaspersky.com/knowledge/years-1970s/ -
"Zero Day" First Coined
The term "Zero Day" was first popularized in the in the software piracy community during the 1990s. Today it refers to how many days a vendor is aware about a vulnerability. In the past, it meant software that on the day of its release had already been cracked, software that has had its security and licenses to prevent it from being spread bypassed, and was distributed same day. -
Free Kevin
In the '80's and '90s Kevin Mitnick had landed himself on the Wanted List of the government for hacking into many different corporations. His motive wasn't financial, but rather was for the thrill. He ended up being sentenced. The movement Free Kevin was sparked by the hacking community as they felt the FBI should have been going after dangerous criminals and not someone breaking into systems for fun.
https://www.mitnicksecurity.com/about-kevin-mitnick-mitnick-security -
Samy Worm
The Samy Worm created by Samy Kamkar was a worm that would trigger upon the visit of Samy's MySpace page. It would force your account to friend his, but not only that, if you're infected, anyone visiting your page would also be infected.
https://samy.pl/myspace/ -
Stuxnet
Malware called Stuxnet entered the computers of an Iranian nuclear facility. Inside it made centrifuges spin disproportionately, slowly breaking them down.
https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/news/stuxnet
https://web.archive.org/web/20140410211517/http://www.wired.com/2011/07/how-digital-detectives-deciphered-stuxnet/all/ -
Pegasus
Pegasus is spyware used for eavesdropping and data collection and basically has root(admin) on any phone it infiltrates. It was developed by a firm called NSO. This malware has been used on politicians, humans rights activists, and journalists and is only sold to governments. Pegasus can be deployed on a phone through the use of a call or text regardless of whether the call is ignored or missed. It became more widely known in 2016.
school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Pegasus-spyware/635748. -
NotPetya
NotPetya was a Russian malware attack that targeted Ukrainian businesses. NotPetya utilized EternalBlue, stolen from the grasp of the NSA, which attacked the vulnerabilities in Windows. NotPetya also used Mimikatz, a program that sits in the memory of a computer and lunges at passing passwords along with other utilities.
https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2022-11/NotPetya%20Final.pdf
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/threat-search?query=Hacktool:Win32/Mimikatz -
Malware in the Future
I predict in the future everything could become cyberwars where disputes are settled between ranks of people sitting behind computers or some tool for software development and their malware, defense, and counter malware. There could be advanced malware that will be publicly known to the masses ( or not) intended on taking out drones, deploying EMPS, knocking out food suppliers, etc. Or... it could just not.