The 12 most-destructive viruses [Infographic]

The world of computer viruses has changed drastically over the last 25 or so years. In the early days, internet users were very naïve towards email attachments, contributing to the alarming speed that viruses could spread across the globe.

These days, viruses very rarely land in our inboxes due to preconfigured firewalls and strict measures from the likes of Gmail and Outlook.

However, when viruses do successfully infect machines and propagate effectively, they can be highly destructive in their nature and bring some of the largest corporations to their knees. While some viruses are created to simply spread as far and wide as possible, others have more sinister payloads such as the construction of botnets and execution of denial of service attacks.

We took a look at the most destructive viruses to wreak havoc on the internet, and compiled the infographic below.

And once you’ve checked that out, head to the SSLs blog for a step-by-step guide of how each virus works.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Net Communities Ltd Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: Thomas Bethge/Shutterstock