The A to Z of security

Love Bug

ILOVEYOU. Loveletter. Love Bug. All names used to refer to a computer virus that used social engineering to trick computer users into opening an infected attachment entitled LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs - in this case playing on people's desire to feel loved.

Security from A to Z

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A is for Antivirus
B is for Botnets
C is for CMA
D is for DDoS
E is for Extradition
F is for Federated identity
G is for Google
H is for Hackers
I is for IM
J is for Jaschan (Sven)
K is for Kids
L is for Love Bug
M is for Microsoft
N is for Neologisms
O is for Orange
P is for Passwords
Q is for Questions
R is for Rootkits
S is for Spyware
T is for Two-factor authentication
U is for USB sticks/devices
V is for Virus variants
W is for Wi-fi
X is for OS X
Y is for You
Z is for Zero-day

The Love Bug was fiendishly effective. The worm, which only affected systems running Microsoft's Windows OS, surfaced in Hong Kong on 3 May 2000 and, propagating via email contact lists, spread westwards across the globe as office workers logged on in the morning and checked their email – a common phenomenon in the virus world, called 'following the sun'.

As well as causing overloaded email servers to grind to a halt, the virus overwrote files with a copy of itself. One training company had its entire image library wiped out. And even the Pentagon was not immune to the Love Bug's charms.

The worm's cost to businesses is thought to have been around $8.5bn - making it the most expensive piece of malware to be unleashed to date. It was also the first time a computer virus became the day's top story for newspapers and television stations, marking a shift to mainstream awareness of computer viruses.

A 23-year-old computer programming student from the Philippines, Onel de Guzman, was charged in June 2000 with releasing the Love Bug but the case against him was dropped as the Philippines had no law against virus writing. Authorities there also failed to prosecute Reonel Ramones, who was accused of authoring the worm.