How Big Can Viruses Get: A Look At The Top Five Of All Time

In the early days, computer viruses were known to be difficult to spread. It was impossible without the use of something like a floppy disk, but not too long after the creation of the internet, this changed. Using the web, cyber-criminals could spread their viruses, Trojans and so on with ease, as they spread from machine to machine in a matter of seconds.

As we’re about to show you in this infographic, computer viruses can infect millions of computers as well as cause billions of dollars’ worth of damage. The biggest virus the world has seen to date cost close to $40bn alone to clean up, causing so much damage that it rendered many machines unusable and various websites and servers almost impossible to debug.

Five Most Catastrophic Viruses of All Time Infographic

What viruses tend to do is infect a device via a compromised webpage, compromised document and/or email attachment or through clicking on a dodgy link on a seemingly innocuous advert, be it on a site page or as a pop-up. As the last of the five featured viruses was in 2004, it seems that we’re all a little wiser to the threats that they tend to pose, although they are still as dangerous as ever.