The MyDoom Virus

In January 2k4 the MyDoom.A virus appeared, spreading quickly and setting records for the number of infections. A potent worm that also left behind a trojan, it is estimated it was found in one of every 12 emails. Millions of infected messages were discovered at the peak of it’s spread, and it is considered one of the worst viruses ever released into the wild. The trojan it left behind launched a denial of service attack against the SCO Group’s website. An estimated 25-50k infected computers took part in the massive attack. MyDoom also launched the era of criminal virus enterprise, as the zombie machine networks created by such worms offered profit to those who controlled them. A war between the writer of MyDoom and the Beagle virus began later when Beagle was finding and removing MyDoom from machines it infected.