Five major viruses on Net

LONDON – In addition to the Sasser computer worm, there are four other major viruses, according to various security firms including F-Secure Corp., Sophos, Network Associates Inc, and Symantec Corp.

* In 1986, two brothers, Amjad and Basit Farooq Alvi, wrote what is thought to be the first PC virus to infect floppy disks. Dubbed the ‘Pakistani Brain’ virus, it was designed to advertise their software company, Brain Computer Services in Lahore, Pakistan.* The first worm – a virus that spreads through the Internet – was released on November 2 1988, by Cornell graduate student Robert Morris Jr.The ‘Morris Worm’ exploited a flaw in the Unix operating system and spread within days to about 6 000 mainframes, or between five and 10 per cent of the total on the Internet at the time.* Blaster worm and the Sobig e-mail virus disabled computers and snarled Internet traffic across the globe in August and September 2003.Sobig.F became one of the most widespread viruses ever.Microsoft has said Blaster cost it millions of dollars of damages, and has issued a US$250 000 bounty for information on the whereabouts of its author.* MyDoom – also known as Novarg or Shimgapi spread rapidly, mostly in North America, accounting for one in nine messages globally.The volume of messages clogged networks and appeared to be concentrated in corporate environments.Later MyDoom.B, a new variant emerged to target Microsoft Corp’s Web site, security experts said.- Nampa-ReutersDubbed the ‘Pakistani Brain’ virus, it was designed to advertise their software company, Brain Computer Services in Lahore, Pakistan.* The first worm – a virus that spreads through the Internet – was released on November 2 1988, by Cornell graduate student Robert Morris Jr.The ‘Morris Worm’ exploited a flaw in the Unix operating system and spread within days to about 6 000 mainframes, or between five and 10 per cent of the total on the Internet at the time.* Blaster worm and the Sobig e-mail virus disabled computers and snarled Internet traffic across the globe in August and September 2003.Sobig.F became one of the most widespread viruses ever.Microsoft has said Blaster cost it millions of dollars of damages, and has issued a US$250 000 bounty for information on the whereabouts of its author.* MyDoom – also known as Novarg or Shimgapi spread rapidly, mostly in North America, accounting for one in nine messages globally.The volume of messages clogged networks and appeared to be concentrated in corporate environments.Later MyDoom.B, a new variant emerged to target Microsoft Corp’s Web site, security experts said.- Nampa-Reuters