Illustrated history of the world’s worst computer viruses

Skulls by Anthony Burrill

The Computer Virus Catalog is an illustrated guide to the worst viruses in computer history. The project was founded by Amsterdam-based, multi-award-winning writer Bas van de Poel whose fascination with such “evil plots” led to his curating a new art collection of the worst viruses as illustrated by artists around the world.

See the full catalog here.

Anna Kournikova by Sarah Mazzetti

Anna Kournikova is also a very effective Windows worm…it plunders your inbox and sends itself to your entire Outlook contact list

Beda by Sam Coldy

Beda is a DOS memory virus infecting .COM files. The virus will then produce a display of trippy RGB color beams moving quickly up and down, leaving office monkeys in awe

Code Red by Thomas Slater

This refreshing worm exploits a vulnerability in Windows 2000 and NT and initiates a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on the White House website

Cookie Monster by Lawrence Slater

Created in the late ’60s, Cookie Monster is the world’s first computer virus. After infection, Cookie Monster freezes all system activity and demands cookies….You simply unlock your computer again by typing the word ‘cookie’

Happy99 by Joshua Checkley

Happy99 is the first modern worm, spreading via email attachments and newsgroups. When executed, the worm shows animated fireworks, wishes you a ‘Happy New Year!’ and modifies a bunch of system files in the background

ILOVEYOU by Darius Ou Dahao

ILOVEYOU infected more than fifty million computers within days and caused $10 billion in damages. The worm broke out early May 2000 and spread like wildfire via email. ILOVEYOU promises to be a love letter from a secret admirer, but instead overwrites local files and infects your Outlook contact list

Implant by Karborn

DOS virus Implant displays a high res photo of a blonde bombshell wearing nothing but lingerie. After rebooting your computer you will notice the babe erased your entire hard drive.

Kenzero by Felipe Pantone

Kenzero hides inside video files of explicit Hentai anime – 変態 – and spreads via P2P networks. Once executed, the Windows trojan takes screengrabs of your dirty web history, publishes everything online and demands a ¥1500 copyright settlement

LSD by Clay Hickson

The LSD virus is far out… This DOS virus overwrites all the files in the current directory and then displays a druggy video effect. Next it shows a message from your local dealer: ‘LSD ViRuS 1.0 Coded By Death Dealer 4/29/94 [TeMpEsT -94]’

Madman by Jay Wright

Madman is a DOS virus infecting .EXE files. Whenever you hit CTRL-ALT-DEL the virus displays an ASCII picture of an angry red-faced amigo. Hit your keyboard again and the virus displays the creepy message: ‘Nothing can save you here, friend – you’re in my world now!’

Marburg by HORT

Marburg infects .EXE and .SCR files and draws the all too familiar critical error icon everywhere on your screen.

Melissa by Saiman Chow

…named after the author’s favorite exotic dancer. The macro worm infects Word documents and spreads via email and newsgroups. Melissa was first distributed in the Usenet group alt.sex, hiding in a document containing passwords of 80 porn sites

Melting Worm by Michael Willis

Melting Worm is a Windows worm infecting .EXE files. The worm spreads via the Outlook address book attaching ‘MeltingScreen.exe’ to emails, promising to be a badass screensaver. After infection, Melting Worm starts melting away your screen

Nople by Merijn Hos

Nople is a Windows NT worm virus that spreads over local networks and shared network drives. On activation the worm runs an animation of furry colored graphics and displays the text: ‘¡Es hora de formatear tu disco!’, which translates to ‘It is the hour to format your disc!’

Selectronic by Mike Perry

Selectronic infects .COM files and embeds itself into the memory. On Friday the 13th the DOS virus displays the text: “Countdown to Extinction…”, plays a super cheesy MIDI tune and runs an animation of the Grim Reaper marching across the screen

Stuxnet by Mel Nguyen

Stuxnet is a joint effort of the US and Israel, designed to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. This highly sophisticated Windows worm reportedly destroyed roughly a fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, by causing them to spin out of control

Techno by Joost & Nick

DOS virus Techno infects .COM files. The virus activates randomly one out of ten times and uses the CPU audio device to play a fist pumping techno track. Meanwhile, the word ‘TECHNO’ covers the entire screen