The I Love You Virus: A Worm That Spread Rapidly Across the Globe

In March 1999, a virus similar to ILOVEYOU, known as Melissa, replicated itself by using Outlook address books. However, the ILOVEYOU virus was far more destructive, causing widespread chaos and damage across the globe.

The ILOVEYOU virus is actually a worm that spreads through email attachments. It does not require human intervention or attachment to software to replicate and spread. When a recipient opens the attachment, the virus instantly downloads itself into their system without their knowledge and starts spreading it across the network.

The virus works by finding the recipient's Outlook address book and re-sending the note to everyone in it. The attachment is a VBScript program that recipients mistook for a simple text file because of its extension. When opened, the virus destroys all kinds of files including photographs, audio files, documents, and more.

In just about 10 days, ILOVEYOU reached an estimated 45 million users and caused about $10 billion in damages. The virus spread so quickly that many major enterprises like Ford Motor Company, AT&T, and Microsoft, as well as government organizations like the Pentagon, CIA, U.S. Army, and parliaments in Denmark and the UK, had to completely shut down their email services.

The ILOVEYOU virus is also known as the 'love letter virus' or the 'love bug worm.' It is often referred to as a computer virus, but it is actually a type of malware that can replicate itself and spread from system to system without human interaction or intervention.

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