ILOVEYOU: Difference between revisions
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'''ILOVEYOU''' was a [[computer virus]] that hit numerous computers in 2000, when it was sent as an attachment to an email message with the text "ILOVEYOU" in the subject line. The virus arrived in [[e-mail]] boxes on May 4, 2000, with the simple subject of "ILOVEYOU" and an attachment "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs". Upon opening the attachment, the virus sent a copy of itself to everyone in the user's address list, posing as the user. It also made a number of malicious changes to the user's system. |
'''ILOVEYOU''' was a [[computer virus]] that hit numerous computers i banged your mom in 2000, when it was sent as an attachment to an email message with the text "ILOVEYOU" in the subject line. The virus arrived in [[e-mail]] boxes on May 4, 2000, with the simple subject of "ILOVEYOU" and an attachment "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs". Upon opening the attachment, the virus sent a copy of itself to everyone in the user's address list, posing as the user. It also made a number of malicious changes to the user's system. |
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Such propagation mechanism had been well known (though in [[IBM]] [[mainframe]] rather than in the [[MS Windows]] environment) and used already in the [[Christmas Tree EXEC]] of 1987, which brought down a large fraction of the world's mainframes at the time.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} |
Such propagation mechanism had been well known (though in [[IBM]] [[mainframe]] rather than in the [[MS Windows]] environment) and used already in the [[Christmas Tree EXEC]] of 1987, which brought down a large fraction of the world's mainframes at the time.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} |
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Revision as of 18:05, 1 May 2009
| ILOVEYOU | |
|---|---|
| Alias | The Love Bug |
| Technical details | |
| Written in | VBScript |
ILOVEYOU was a computer virus that hit numerous computers i banged your mom in 2000, when it was sent as an attachment to an email message with the text "ILOVEYOU" in the subject line. The virus arrived in e-mail boxes on May 4, 2000, with the simple subject of "ILOVEYOU" and an attachment "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs". Upon opening the attachment, the virus sent a copy of itself to everyone in the user's address list, posing as the user. It also made a number of malicious changes to the user's system.
Such propagation mechanism had been well known (though in IBM mainframe rather than in the MS Windows environment) and used already in the Christmas Tree EXEC of 1987, which brought down a large fraction of the world's mainframes at the time.[citation needed]
Two aspects of the virus made it effective:
- It relied on social engineering to entice users to open the attachment and ensure its continued propagation.
- It exploited the weakness of the email system design that an attached program could be run easily by simply opening the attachment; the underlying mechanism – VBScript – had not been exploited to such a degree previously to direct attention to its potential, thus the necessary layers of protection were not in place yet.
Spread
Its massive spread moved westward as workers arrived at their offices and encountered messages generated by people from Asia. Because the virus used mailing lists as its source of targets, the messages often appeared to come from an acquaintance and might be considered "safe", providing further incentive to open them. All it took was a few users at each site to access the VBS attachment to generate the thousands and thousands of e-mails that would cripple e-mail systems under their weight, not to mention overwrite thousands of files on workstations and accessible servers.
Effects
The virus began in the Philippines on May 4, 2000, and spread across the world in one day (traveling from Hong-Kong to Europe to the United States), infecting 10 percent of all computers connected to the Internet[1] and causing about $5.5 billion in damage.[2] By 13 May 2000, 50 million infections had been reported.[3] Most of the "damage" was the labor of getting rid of the virus. The Pentagon, CIA, and the British Parliament had to shut down their e-mail systems to get rid of the virus, as did most large corporations.[4]
This particular malware caused widespread outrage. The virus overwrote important files, as well as music, multimedia and more, with a copy of itself. It also sent the virus to everyone on a user's contact list. Because it was written in Visual Basic Script, this particular virus only affected computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. While any computer accessing e-mail could receive an "ILOVEYOU" e-mail, only Microsoft Windows systems would be infected.
Architecture of the virus
The virus is written using Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting (VBS), and requires that the end-user run the script in order to deliver its payload. It will add a set of registry keys to the Windows registry that will allow the malware to start up at every boot.
The virus will then search all drives which are connected to the infected computer and replace files with the extensions *.JPG, *.JPEG, *.VBS, *.VBE, *.JS, *.JSE, *.CSS, *.WSH, *.SCT, *.DOC *.HTA with copies of itself, while appending to the file name a .VBS. extension. The malware will also locate *.MP3 and *.MP2 files, and when found, make the files hidden, copy itself with the same filename and append a .VBS extension.
The virus propagates by sending out copies of itself to all entries in the Microsoft Outlook address book. It also has an additional component, in which it will download and execute an infected program called variously "WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE" or "Microsoftv25.exe". This is a password-stealing program which will e-mail cached passwords.
Legislative aftermath
The alleged authors of the virus were reported to be Filipinos. Siblings Irene and Onel de Guzman of Manila[5]; Irene's boyfriend, Reomel Lamores, who was briefly held in May 2000 in connection with the virus outbreak; and Michael Buen, a fellow student of de Guzman at "AMAconda".[6] Onel finally came forward but denied writing the virus, although he said he may have inadvertently been responsible for its release. As there were no laws in the Philippines against virus-writing at the time, he was released and in August the prosecutors dropped all charges against him. The original charges brought up against her dealt with the illegal use of passwords for credit card and bank transactions.[citation needed]
Upper Deck is commemorating the release of this virus as part of its 20th anniversary retrospective set. [7]
References
- ^ http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-520463.html TrendMicro HouseCall online web scanner found out that one-fifths of all HouseCall users infected
- ^ "ILOVEYOU". WHoWhatWhereWhenWhy.com. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- ^ Gary Barker (13 May 2000). "Microsoft May Have Been Target of Lovebug". The Age.
- ^ http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-520435.html?legacy=zdnn British parliament shut down e-mail systems to prevent damage
- ^ http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ASIANOW/southeast/05/11/ilove.you/index.html
- ^ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/11/love_bug_author/
- ^ http://sports.upperdeck.com/20thanniversary/CheckList.aspx
See also
