02 Jul Looking Back On The Brain Computer Virus – 1986
This week in cybersecurity from the editors at Cybercrime Magazine
– Sausalito, Calif. – Jul. 2, 2024
The recently released “2024 Cybersecurity Almanac” has a section on historic viruses including this one:
For computer buffs visiting Pakistan’s historic city of Lahore, it seemed too good a bargain to pass up. A shop called Brain Computer Services was selling brand-name computer programs, such as Lotus 1-2-3 and WordStar, for as little as $1.50 each, according to TIME.
From early 1986 to late 1987, scores of Americans — most of them students and backpackers — snapped up cut-rate disks for use on their computers back home. Hidden in nearly every disk was an extra program not supplied by any manufacturer: a snippet of computer code many considered to be the world’s most sophisticated computer virus.
Every time an unsuspecting user lent his new disk to a friend or colleague, and every time the disk was run on a machine shared by other users, the code spread from one computer to another.
The so-called Brain virus had found its way onto at least 100,000 floppy disks, sometimes with data-destroying impact. In each case the illicit program left behind a calling card for those savvy enough to find it: a message that began with the words WELCOME TO THE DUNGEON, and was signed by brothers Amjad Farooq Alvi, 26, and Basit Farooq Alvi, 19, the owners of Brain Computer Services.
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