LoveBug Celebrates Its 10-Year Anniversary
The virus is seen by many as a milestone in the evolution of malware.
By Kara Reeder | May 5, 2010
The LoveBug worm is celebrating its tenth anniversary today. With its simple subject line, "ILOVEYOU," the virus is seen by many as a milestone in the evolution of malware. NetworkWorld.com explains:
The attack was a wildly successful case of social engineering, sending people a malicious attachment via the hijacked e-mail address of someone the victims knew. The worm arrived as an e-mail attachment, subject line: ILOVEYOU. Because it was from someone known and trusted, people opened the attachment.
The threat landscape has changed since LoveBug. V3.co.uk quotes Symantec Hosted Services senior analyst, Paul Wood, as saying:
It was very significant at the time and the landscape was entirely different. We didn't have the same number of broadband connections, and people were using the Internet differently. We don't see so many mass mailer outbreaks now. They tend to be more targeted.
Wood adds that LoveBug is significant for being an early example of a scripted virus, which gave rise to a number of variants and copycats.
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