In 2003, a computer worm called Blaster, also known as lovesan, was programmed to start a SYN flood, creating a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) against the http port of windowsupdate.com. One of the executable messages stated “Billy Gates why do you make this possible? Stop making money and fix your software”. Although the target of the worm is the co-founder of Microsoft, the damage on the company was minimal.
In 2013, CryptoLocker, a ransomware trojan horse, targeted computers running on Microsoft windows. It encrypted the files on user’s hard drive, prompting them to pay a ransom to the developer via bitcoins or direct payment, in order to receive the decryption key, justifying the term ransomware.
As creative as they get, a recent attack on Linksys routers by The Moon worm, scanned for IP addresses in ports 80 (http) and 8080 (web proxy and caching). The attack is a self-replicating program that compromises the Linksys routers and using them to scan for other vulnerable devices. This was done by exploiting an authentication bypass vulnerability.