Cybercrime History: Computer Viruses And What Are They?

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The history of cybercrime goes back to 1971 and the first computer virus called the Creeper which was created by Bob H. Thomas, who was a BBN engineer (Dalakov, Meltzer, and Phillips). BBN which stands for Bolt, Beranek and Newman, is now Raytheon BBN Technologies (“About”, Dalakov). A computer virus is a program that is created to cause damage to a computer or perform other malicious acts (204). The Creeper virus was designed to infect the ARPANET network. The ARPANET, which stands for Advance Research Projects Agency was set up by the U.S. Government as an agency in 1969 to provide a network of computers that would connect various academic and research organizations; it was the predecessor of the Internet (“Internet”, Morley, and Parker). The creeper was not really nasty, the “infected computers would simply display the message, I'm the creeper: catch me if you can” the computers did not suffer any lasting damage (Benford 112, Meltzer, and Phillips). The Creeper virus was an experiment of a self-replicating program, not designed to damage but to demonstrate a mobile application (Dalakov). Self means doing on its shelf (“Self”). Replicating means repeating over and over again in exact the same way (“Replicate”). Both these words are combined as Self–replicate is to copy itself automatically (“Self-replicating”). A computer program is executable software that runs on a PC or computer system (Christensson). An executable file is a type in a computer file that runs a program when it opens (Christensson). Software is the instructions tell the computer what to do (“Software”). Software is the entire set of programs, procedures, and routines associated with the operation of a computer system, including the operating syst... ... middle of paper ... ... to get user data back (“Ransomware”). This means that criminal is using a computer by locking your computer by passing your permission on the computer. This makes it possible to make millions of dollars by making viruses and scams in less than one hour (ComputerCareClnc). In the computer world we will never find the true answer. Why do people create computer viruses? Why they benefit from it? It is like asking why do people commit crimes? (Why People Create Computer). In the 20th century at the beginning of early computer viruses. They were for experiments, annoyance, and testing. They do not really harm computer systems or computers back then. In the 21st century computer viruses, are changing. They are becoming smarter and more destructive rarely without annoyance but they serve a purpose to cause some harm to a computer or computer systems (Benford).

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