Fifteen years ago today, millions of people around the world received the same exact email from someone they knew."Kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me," read the email, which had "ILOVEYOU" as a subject.The missive included an attachment that looked like a text file named "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU."
But there was no love in that letter—just a destructive, self-spreading computer virus. The bug was programmed to replace all files with media extensions such as images, documents and mp3s with copies of itself. Then, the worm would send an identical email around to all the contacts of a victim's Outlook address book.The virus came to be known as the ILOVEYOU worm, or LOVEBUG. At the time, it was the biggest computer virus the world had ever seen, and the "first successful use of social engineering," according to Mike Donnelly, a security engineer at Bromium
"We had seen some virus storms before this, but never anything on a scale like this."
"We had seen some virus storms before this, but never anything on a scale like this," said Philip Menke, a consultant at Intel Security who at the time was working at the EMEA helpdesk of McAfee (which has since been acquired by Intel). "A computer virus until that stage never made headline news, this is maybe one of the first times that people realized how important and indispensable the digital, wired economy had become."Reports at the time said it infected more than 45 million computer users, all lured by the promise of a heart-warming love letter."There was nothing particularly clever about the Love Bug's code that explained why it had spread so widely so quickly," Graham Cluley, a well-known computer security expert, wrote six years ago in a blog post reminiscing about the bug. "The reason for its 'success' was that it had tapped into a universal need: the desire to be loved."
The number of victims perhaps doesn't even explain all the damage the virus made. With so many victims hit, many mail systems around the world completely overloaded, Menke recalled, causing "huge chunk of the businesses and governments to fully grind down to a halt."At the time, when email spam filters and antiviruses were still not as sophisticated, when email malware was still rare, that's all ILOVEYOU needed to cause havoc.
"The general idea in those days was that just opening a mail could never do any harm."
"The general idea in those days was that just opening a mail could never do any harm," Menke told Motherboard. "And this was one of the first cases where that exactly was all that was needed."To have an idea at the panic it caused among security professionals, who scrambled to respond to a rapidly expanding problem, just take a look at some of the emails they exchanged on the Usenet mailing list alt.comp.virus on May 5, the day the virus hit Europe and the US after spreading from the Philippines on May 4.Onel de Guzman and Reonel Ramones, two young members of an underground group of computer science students that called itself GRAMMERSoft, were quickly identified as the potential culprits of the virus spread.
Ramones was arrested, while de Guzman went into hiding for a few days, only to reemerge to admit that it was "possible" that he mistakenly sent out the virus, but denied direct responsibility, a position he long repeated."I admit I create viruses, but I don't know if it's one of mine," he told the New York Times a few months later.
"I admit I create viruses, but I don't know if it's one of mine."
Neither him nor Ramones were never charged, since at the time, law in the Philippines did not include computer crimes.15 years later, the world of information security, which is often referred to as cybersecurity much to the chagrin of many industry insiders, has changed radically. Gone are the days of accidental, widespread and destructive virus infections. Now, targeted attacks and "APTs," or advanced persistent threats, grab headlines seemingly every week.Yet, ILOVEYOU, taught us something that is still valid today."Viruses today live on Facebook, on the web and even in mail, but they still want you to open that attachment, click that link or open that pdf," Menke said.Some things never change.
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FAQs
Although the ILOVEYOU virus is no longer active, it serves as an example of how quickly malicious code can spread across the internet and cause widespread damage. Additionally, it highlights the importance of being aware of cyber threats and taking steps to protect yourself from them.
What did the Love Bug virus do? ›
ILOVEYOU could -- and did -- destroy all kinds of files including photographs, audio files and documents. Affected users who didn't have backup copies lost them permanently. In March 1999, similar to ILOVEYOU, the Melissa virus also replicated itself by using Outlook address books.
Is the Love Bug a virus True or false? ›
ILOVEYOU, sometimes referred to as the Love Bug or Loveletter, was a computer worm that infected over ten million Windows personal computers on and after May 5, 2000. It started spreading as an email message with the subject line "ILOVEYOU" and the attachment "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU. TXT.
Who created the ILOVEYOU bug? ›
In May of 2000, a young hacker in the Philippines named Onel de Guzman created an email worm that would change the way the world thought about cybersecurity.
What is the oldest virus still active? ›
The oldest is a 48,500-year-old pandoravirus, which set a world record for the age of a restored virus, co-author Jean-Michel Claverie, a genomicist at Aix-Marseille University in France, tells New Scientist's Michael Le Page.
Is the virus message real? ›
If a pop-up appears on your computer screen warning that viruses have been detected, do not click on any links in the message. It likely is a scam.
Is ILOVEYOU a virus or worm? ›
Although it's often labeled as a computer virus, it's more precise to call ILOVEYOU a worm. The technical difference between a virus and a worm is that a worm doesn't depend on interaction with the user to replicate itself. Meanwhile, a virus requires a user to activate the host file.
What do love bugs do to humans? ›
Adult lovebugs are nonthreatening to humans because they do not bite or sting. They primarily feed on nectar from various plants, particularly sweet clover, goldenrod, and Brazilian pepper. Under laboratory conditions, male lovebugs live for about 92 hours, whereas females live up to 72 hours.
How did the ILOVEYOU virus end? ›
Sky quickly took the server offline, which stopped at least part of the virus in its tracks. Without the servers to send information to — and it appears the virus's author was never able to access what was sent to the server, or at least act upon it — ILOVEYOU became purely an engine of chaos and destruction.
What virus is called ILOVEYOU? ›
The Love Letter Virus, also known as the Iloveyou virus, ILOVEYOU, and Love Letter, was a computer worm originating in the Philippines, which began infecting computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system on May 5, 2000.
After mating and laying eggs, adult lovebugs die within a few days or weeks. The eggs hatch into larvae that live in decaying plant material before pupating into adult insects themselves.
What eats love bugs? ›
While lovebugs are not a favored food of most insectivores due to their acidic taste, lovebug larvae—and some adults—are food for birds such as quail and robins. Arthropod predators include spiders, some predatory insects such as earwigs, at least two species of beetle larvae, and centipedes.
Who is the computer virus guy? ›
What is the Zeus virus? ›
Zeus is a Trojan horse malware package that runs on versions of Microsoft Windows. It is often used to steal banking information by man-in-the-browser keystroke logging and form grabbing. Zeus is spread mainly through drive-by downloads and phishing schemes.
Who was hacked by the Melissa virus? ›
In the span of just five days, Melissa infected over 100,000 computers around the world: in doing so, it quickly became the fastest-spreading virus in computer history to date. Entire corporate mail systems – such as Intel's and Lockheed-Martin's – shut down due to the sheer infected email traffic alone.
Where is the ILOVEYOU virus creator now? ›
The Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation tried to charge him with a number of different felony counts, but none were successful as the laws at the time hadn't been written to account for computer viruses. Today, de Guzman runs a small smartphone repair shop in a mall in Manila.
Does PC virus still exist? ›
It's clear computer viruses and other malware are not a thing of the past. Keep reading to learn more about what a computer virus is, why you should still be concerned about online security, and what antivirus programs are best for protecting your devices.
What is the scariest computer virus in the world? ›
11 most dangerous computer viruses
- Mydoom. Considered by many to be the most dangerous computer virus in history, the Mydoom virus cost around $38 billion worth of damage in 2004. ...
- Sobig. The Sobig virus is a computer worm. ...
- Conficker. ...
- Klez. ...
- ILOVEYOU. ...
- WannaCry. ...
- Sasser. ...
- Zeus.
The number of malware attacks is rising again
In 2020, the number of new malware attacks declined for the first time since 2015. However, according to SonicWall's 2022 Cyber Threat Report, this was just a temporary dip, with malware attacks now sitting at 10.4 million per year, roughly where they were back in 2018.
