Today Marks the 25th Anniversary of Computer Malware

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funkydmunky

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 28, 2008
Messages
3,280
"6,000 of the 60,000 host systems on the Internet were affected."

Not sure where you got the "total number of computers back in 1988" part from. Do you really believe there were only 60,000 computers is 1988? I mean, come on!
 
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westrock2000

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Messages
9,370
funkydmunky said:
"6,000 of the 60,000 host systems on the Internet were affected."

Not sure where you got the "total number of computers back in 1988" part from. Do you really believe there were only 60,000 computers is 1988? I mean, come on!
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60K per state maybe?? Heck we 2 in our house...and one of them was mine as a 7 year old!
 
S

sir-gold

Gawd
Joined
Jan 19, 2006
Messages
931
funkydmunky said:
"6,000 of the 60,000 host systems on the Internet were affected."

Not sure where you got the "total number of computers back in 1988" part from. Do you really believe there were only 60,000 computers is 1988? I mean, come on!
Click to expand...

60,000 computers connected to the internet. Compuserve didn't offer public access to the internet until 1989, and they were one of the first.
 
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Merc1138

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 25, 2010
Messages
2,128
LOL, wtf was with the random clips from the ET atari 2600 game in the middle of the video?
 
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collegeboy69us

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Messages
5,256
sfsuphysics said:
I was thinking original creepy internet guy. Maybe voyeur, maybe pedophile, but just something creepy
Click to expand...

pedophile wouldn't have been that happy to talk to the camera. Those were some bitchin' thick glasses though. Guessing this is before the days of ultra slim polycarbonate. But yeah -- my bet would be on proto-hipster.

I was only 6 years old when that news story aired, lol
 
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Qinsp

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Messages
2,154
Boot sector viruses were the first I was exposed to. They infected floppy disks, or were downloaded via BBS services. When a FD or HDD was booted, it looked for other drives to infect.

In 88, it is possible there were only 60k computers on the internet. AOL and Compuserve weren't internet per say.
 
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Burticus

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Nov 7, 2005
Messages
4,794
Yeah I don't know.... 1988, the "internet" might have been a handful of high end tech colleges like MIT, Stanford, etc... 60k PC's connected via that method sounds kind of high to me. Most data transmission was by modem & BBS in those days and a 2400 baud modem cost about 500 bucks.

Luckily my Commodore 128 was immune to such efforts... lol. We should bring them back into service.

In the low 90's the most prevalent virus distribution method was by floppy's and boot sector viruses.
 
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ecktt

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 22, 2004
Messages
415
Other than the BS sensationalism that poor excuse for a news report had, did any one notice what OS was hit? Most computer ran DOS but most universities ran good old UNIX. I highly doubt the virus hit both platforms.
 
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