8 technology-related obsessions of the decade

Over the past 10 years, computer users have witnessed risks, threats and spreads around the world several times.

However, according to PC World , the fact that these incidents have not reached the level of destruction as technology experts and security forecasts.

Y2K (2000)

Before the New Year's Eve in 2000, the whole world was warned about the " millennium incident " that many computers used two numbers to indicate the year, so when the clock moved from 99 (1999) to 00 (2000). ), it can cause serious errors and prevent the system from functioning .

However, this issue has been mentioned and fixed since 1984. The world welcomes the first new year's eve of peace with some problems displaying dates on some websites.

Conficker worm (2008-2009)

Also known as Kido or Downadup, the worm was first discovered at the end of 2008 when exploiting a vulnerability in the Windows operating system. It uses advanced techniques to remotely control victim computers. This is the most malicious malware since 2003 with the number of infected PCs reaching nearly 10 million.

The final variant of Conflicker is mentioned in mid-April 2009. The author of the worm is still "in vain " even though Microsoft and the ICANN organization have suspended a $ 250,000 reward for anyone who provides information to help them catch the mastermind.

Mydoom (2004-2009)

Appearing in January 2004, Mydoom started operating on the Internet as an error message with an attachment . If the recipient clicks on the file, it will not only duplicate and automatically send to the victim's friends but also attach the file to the shared on Kazaa to spread it in this peer-to- peer (P2P) network.

A variant of Mydoom also participated in the Internet attack in South Korea in 2009. The author of the worm, dubbed "the fastest spread via e-mail, " has yet to be discovered.

Tracking via RFID (since 2002)

Currently, the chip (or tag) identifies the remote radio RFID that is attached to many objects such as passports, security cards, electronics . to authenticate the information. Information stored in the card can be read through RFID readers.

The technology is heavily criticized because people fear manufacturers will secretly integrate chips into products to secretly track users . In theory, RFID tags can provide all the information from spending habits and shopping to someone's whereabouts.

Iloveyou virus (2000)

Similar to other e-mail-based worms, the virus tricked users into opening an executable file written in Visual Basic Scripting but disguised as a file called " love-letter-for-you.txt.vbs ". (love letter for you). Many people have opened it thinking that this is just a normal text file.

Iloveyou not only automatically spreads to the victim's friends but also changes the system such as overwriting files, including .jpg and .doc files . This notorious malicious program has infected more than 50 million computers and caused an estimated loss of $ 5.5 billion . The Pentagon, the CIA and the British Parliament had to temporarily shut down their entire e-mail system.

Only one day after the virus was released, Philippine police arrested two computer programmers but the authorities could not accuse them because there were no laws against writing malicious code at the time.

Mobile waves drop aircraft (2000 to present)

When phones began to become popular, their use on airplanes was controversial for years. There has been no case where the phone signal has affected the aircraft's navigation system , because if this is true, then the work of terrorists will become much easier. However, the crew will still force everyone to turn off their engines even if they still carry them.

Deep Witty (2004)

This worm only infects about 12,000 computers but is a great fear for network administrators because this is the first virus containing the payload that can gradually destroy the system it attacks. It is called a playful worm (Witty) because the payload contains the character string (^. ^) .

2012

A scene in the movie 2012 .

The Internet is the main tool in " abetting" the rumor that humanity will end life on December 21, 2012, according to the ancient Mayan calculations. History Channel made a program called Past Decoding : Apocalypse in 2012 and said: " Earthquakes rocked the continents and tsunamis swept away many coastal cities. This could be one. planet-wide disaster ". Hollywood also launched a 2012 world simulation movie that was engulfed by tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes and meteor shower .