Among the most noteworthy was 1999’s “Melissa” virus, which spread by way of infected email attachments and overloaded hundreds of corporate and governmental email servers worldwide. Shortly thereafter, the internet started connecting computers, which opened millions of doors for hackers as people went online. And on that 90 th boot, the user was presented with a digital ransom note like the one here: Early example of ransomware- Source, WikipediaĪlong with that note, PC Cyborg encrypted the computer’s files, which would only get unencrypted if the victim paid a fee-making PC Cyborg the first widely recognized form of ransomware. There the malware would lie in wait until the user rebooted their computer for the 90 th time. Although not malicious or destructive in nature, Brain most certainly put the industry, businesses, and consumers on notice.Īnother piece of malware that got passed along via floppy disks was the “ PC Cyborg ” attack that targeted the medical research community in and around 1989. It went beyond their software and affected computers worldwide. Rather they say they created Brain as an anti-piracy measure to protect their proprietary software from theft. While recognized today as the first large-scale computer virus, its authors say they never intended it to work that way. In a way, Reaper could be considered the first piece of antivirus software.įrom there, it wasn’t until the 1980’s that malware started affecting the broader population, a time when computers became more commonplace in businesses and people’s homes.Īt first, malware typically spread by infected floppy disks, much like the “ Brain ” virus in 1986. Later, the same programmer who created a follow-on version of Creeper developed Reaper, a program that could remove the Creeper program. It was known as Creeper, and rather than being malicious in nature, it was designed to show how a self-replicating program could identify other connected devices on a network, transfer itself to them, and find yet more devices to repeat the process. And depending on how you define what a virus is, the first one arguably took root in 1971-more than 50 years ago. With that, let’s take a closer look at what malware and viruses really are-how they evolved, and what they look like today, along with how antivirus protects you against them. In short, antivirus doesn’t cut it alone. All the things you need to stay safer online. Yet when paired with things like a password manager, credit monitoring, identity theft coverage, and a VPN, to name a few, you can protect your devices-along with your privacy and identity. The reason why antivirus gets paired up with other apps for your privacy and identity is because antivirus alone doesn’t offer these kinds of protections. Other antivirus apps are part of comprehensive online protection software, which can include several additional far-reaching features that can protect your privacy and your identity. They offer malware protection and that’s it. Now here’s where some confusion may come in. So while we popularly refer to protection software as antivirus, it protects against far more than just viruses. Viruses are a subset of malicious software that infects devices and then replicates itself so that it can infect yet more devices. Malware is an umbrella term that covers all types of malicious software regardless of its design, intent, or how its delivered. (More on that in a bit.) However, antivirus protects you from more than viruses. One important distinction about antivirus is its name, a name that first came into use decades ago when viruses first appeared on the scene. In short, if it’s connected, it must get protected. In fact, we recommend installing it on those devices as well because they’re connected, just like a computer-and any device that connects to the internet is a potential target for malware and viruses. Today, it can also protect your smartphones and tablets as well. What is antivirus?Īntivirus software protects your devices against malware and viruses through a combination of prevention, detection, and removal.įor years, people have installed antivirus software on their computers. There are other forms of protection as well, and understanding antivirus’ role in your overall mix of online protection is an important part of staying safer online. The fact is that antivirus is just one form of online protection. With this blog, I hope to give everyone a clear definition of what antivirus does well, along with what it doesn’t do at all. Neither definition is entirely on the money. Others see it as a comprehensive set of protections. Some see it as way to keep hackers from crashing their computers. Over the years, I’ve come to recognize that different people define antivirus differently. What does it really protect? That’s an even better question. What is antivirus? That’s a good question.
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