Remember the Love Bug virus? Security veterans will remember that, nearly 20 years ago, the computer worm also known as ILOVEYOU spread like wildfire across email systems and networks because we believed it was a legitimate email from someone we knew. Security threats were in their infancy at that point, and most users weren’t yet tuned in to know the difference between a real email and an attack from threat actors.
The Love Bug worked for two reasons: First, it relied on email to spread, and you can’t shut down email. Second, it used social engineering tactics to generate user buy-in. Once the virus was launched on your computer, it sent the same email message to everyone in your address book. The virus also overloaded computer networks and manipulated files. It was a cybersecurity wake-up call; one of the first examples of how easy it was to use the burgeoning internet for malicious purposes.
