9th Grade Invention of Computer Virus, Still Going Strong 25 Years Later

News Type: Other — Seeded on Sat Sep 1, 2007 7:24 PM EDT

Article Source: The New York Times

technology, microsoft, bug, computer-virus, appleii, self-replicating-program, skrenta

NEW YORK (AP) -- What began as a ninth-grade prank, a way to trick already-suspicious friends who had fallen for his earlier practical jokes, has earned Rich Skrenta notoriety as the first person ever to let loose a personal computer virus.

Although over the next 25 years, Skrenta started the online news business Topix, helped launch a collaborative Web directory now owned by Time Warner Inc.'s Netscape and wrote countless other computer programs, he is still remembered most for unleashing the ''Elk Cloner'' virus on the world.

Published to:

luckydog's Column, All of Newsvine
Groups: GeekVine, Googlers, Newsvine Technology, Science And Technology
Regions: New York

What's this?

Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

3.8

{"commentId":992839,"authorDomain":"luckydog"}

luckydog

His invention spawned a multi-billion dollar industry fighting computer viruses. Oh well, if he hadn't thought of it, somebody else would have.

{"commentId":992839,"threadId":"145438","contentId":"936274","authorDomain":"luckydog"}

3 votes

#1 - Sat Sep 1, 2007 7:26 PM EDT

{"commentId":993371,"authorDomain":"silkmesh"}

Babel Fish

As I remember the first virus was a worm virus that attacked NASA system 25 years + , but it so nice to read another conflicting story, is this the time for new claims of whom created the first virus?

I am going to have to do some research as this is the first time I have heard of this guy and I spent alot of time eradicating these stupid little programs. Originally Microsoft could have easily eradicated these bugs by changing the command.com file to only allow writing only 17 bytes to the Exe and Com files. Now its still possible to eradicate non macro bugs, by the same methology and the damage they can cause if they write to the Com and Exe files. Yes Microsoft could stop virus attack but they do not because they make money from virus protective tools.

{"commentId":993371,"threadId":"145438","contentId":"936274","authorDomain":"silkmesh"}

2 votes

#2 - Sun Sep 2, 2007 1:43 AM EDT

{"canLink":false,"threadId":"145438","isPrivate":false}

LUCKYDOG

Backyard

9th Grade Invention of Computer Virus, Still Going Strong 25 Years Later

Published to:

FUN STUFF:

COMPANY STUFF:

LEGAL STUFF: