The Michelangelo Virus strikes! | Techday, March 6th
The Michelangelo virus was first found in 1992. It sat dormant until March 6, when it would activate on the birthday of Michelangelo, who many consider to be the world’s best sculptor and painter. The virus sparks fears among everyone from computer users to world governments. There are reports indicating that as many as 5 million computers were vulnerable to the March 6th virus, which could have caused a data loss. In the end, only a few thousand computers were affected and the creator was never identified but, since this incident made computer security newsworthy it introduced people to viruses and the importance of computer security.
Michelangelo was a boot sector virus and was one of the earliest to get media attention. It garnered a lot of panic in its day. One thing that is most curious about this story is that the virus’ code doesn’t reference to Michelangelo at all. This might mean that the person who wrote it didn’t even know that March 6th was Michelangelo’s birthday!
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
