Stealing personal information, degrading computer performance, or causing any kind of problem – a computer virus do all that and more. When you open the doors of the Internet, you also pave the way for millions of malicious computer programs whose sole purpose is to cause harm.

With the advent of the age of technology, cyber attacks have increased even more. Computer crime has increased in Latin America, according to a report by security company Kaspersky in August 2021. 24% in the first months from last year. While the outlook for 2022 isn’t very encouraging, the reality is that the specter of a computer virus that terrified millions of users still lurks in the network security logs compared to a decade ago.

Silent and deadly, that was Mydoom, computer virus faster and more contagious After history, all devices were in danger, there was no computer that could be saved from the terrible consequences of this virus that spread around the world. More than just malware, it was a stealthy and audacious epidemic that threatened to destroy the security of millions of netizens.

Mydoom: invisible but dangerous

Mydoom was malware potentially harmful and powerful So far it has not found a competitor to replace it. It far exceeded previous records set by the Sobig worm. Prior to the arrival of Mydoom, it received the honorable title of the fastest worm in history and defeated the ILoveYou virus, a worm written in VBScript that infected nearly 50 million computers and caused millions of casualties. If we compare them to the $59,000 million Mydoom cost the world, there is nothing to worry about.

Being part of one of the world’s most important American PC software distribution families has never been more risky. 18 years ago. At the time the worm attacks began—circa January 2004—her victims were users with computers running Microsoft Windows 95 or higher, according to media-released records.

Recovery Labs, a computer security company specializing in the development of computer data recovery applications and services, stated: way of working The worm was spread in messages with variable properties via email and sometimes through the KaZaA file sharing program.

How did he attack?

For a malicious program, it was much more effective than any antivirus or specialist that could fight it. Who would suspect a seemingly harmless message? in your inbox? No one would risk ignoring a warning about a legitimate bounced email. If there was a competition for the perfect gimmick, without a doubt Mydoom should be among the finalists, the operating system has been a real headache for years.

After the user opened the file, there was no return. Mydoom has executed malicious code that is responsible for send the malware According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), it camouflages itself from detection to email addresses.

The above are in simple terms; but if we analyze the computer virus from a technical point of view, what it did was make a copy of itself in C:\Windows\ for later use. delete any computer traces and continue, even after rebooting. In this way, it was almost impossible to get rid of the cyber worm.

One of the most dangerous features was the TCP 3127 to 3198 backdoor, through which any user could remotely access the infected computer. Not only was it potentially dangerous, but incredibly smart. The proof of this is that it has the ability to spread indefinitely from infected devices by searching for email addresses and then sending itself and continuing to reproduce. It was a deadly and silent epidemic.

Computer terror spread

Mydoom programmers -Identity never revealed- They were ambitious in their first attack. For all or nothing, in January 2004 they decided to attack the SCO Group, a company originally associated with Linux. The official page of the American company became the first victim of millions to come later.

The FBI’s tough investigations or $250,000 offered by the company When cybersecurity researchers revealed that MyDoom was programming a denial of service (DDoS) attack, they were able to stop the virus from doing its job.

According to multimedia portal CNET, the short-term solution was to create an alternative website (www.thescogroup.com.) that attempts to mitigate the damage already caused. However, it didn’t take long for the next victim to arrive.

Unlike the SCO Group, Microsoft managed to deftly deal with the Mydoom cyberattack. on February 3, 2004. The tech giant appears to have used extensive preparation (also knowing that the attack was timed and a reward offered) and careful planning to dodge an attack that could have an unfortunate end.

variants

It should be noted that Mydoom has developed two variants. The first was discovered on January 26, 2004, and the second, Detected on February 28, 2004. According to Recovery Labs, the new variant was more of a threat than its predecessor because it was “designed to prevent many antivirus programs from updating properly.”

Mydoom was responsible for the indiscriminate and rapid spread of cyber terrorism in many parts of the world. From the United States to Australia and India, they have been hit by an epidemic that has spread relentlessly between their computers.