Greg Ekborg
Marketing Director, systech
The Origins of Cyber Threats: A Look Back at the First Computer Virus
In 1971, a small program known as Creeper changed the course of history by becoming the world’s first computer virus. Though it didn’t cause any real harm, it opened the door to a new world of cybersecurity risks that we still deal with today. As we kick off Cybersecurity Awareness Month, let's take a look back at the origin of computer viruses and how far we’ve come in the fight against them.
The Creeper Virus
- Creeper was designed by Bob Thomas as an experimental self-replicating program.
- It was created to spread across ARPANET, a precursor to the modern internet.
- The virus displayed a message on infected computers: “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” before jumping to another system.
Lessons Learned
Creeper may not have caused the destruction modern viruses do, but it revealed the vulnerability of interconnected systems. Since then, the world has seen the development of countless viruses and malware designed with more malicious intent.
Cybersecurity Then and Now
- In the early 1970s, cybersecurity as we know it didn’t exist. Today, organizations worldwide spend billions on sophisticated defenses.
- From simple self-replicating programs like Creeper to advanced ransomware attacks, the evolution of cyber threats has been swift and dangerous.
The story of the Creeper virus shows us just how vulnerable our systems were—and still are—to malicious code. While we’ve come a long way, new threats appear every day, making the need for strong cybersecurity measures as crucial as ever.
