“ILOVEYOU“, sometimes referred to as the Love Bug or Loveletter, was a computer worm that infected tens of millions of Windows computers following its release on May 4, 2000.
People around the world were sent the same “love letter” in an email. However, instead of words of affection, those who opened the attachment received a destructive, self-spreading computer worm.
It is estimated that the virus infected about 45 million machines in 24 hours, leaving email systems overwhelmed and prompting panicked IT managers to disconnect parts of their infrastructure to protect operations.
Onel de Guzman, a 23-year-old Filipino, was the man who unleashed the Love Bug virus to steal passwords that would allow him to gain access to the internet for free. Now aged 50, he said that he never meant for his creation to spread so rapidly and cause disruption across the world.
The virus was a wake-up call for governments and populations that had become complacent to the dangers posed by malicious cyber actors. More than 25 years later, Love Bug remains one of the farthest-reaching viruses.
Taylor Fox, Senior Social Media Manager at Cybercrime Magazine, dives into the ILOVEYOU virus in our latest YouTube Short video on the history of hacking.
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