How Did the “Melissa” Virus Disrupt Microsoft’s Internet?

Today “Do not open suspicious emails” rule, has become part of common sense in the online world. Well, of course, there is a justified reason for this common sense, right?

However, this common sense was not so common in the past and An unforgettable day in the cyber world of March 26, 1999 happened.

So what exactly happened on that date?

That day, hundreds of thousands of people around the world used Word documents and, it is estimated, It will cause a loss of 1.1 billion dollars and received an email that would cripple multiple networks.

This computer worm, called Melissa, was a wake-up call for the internet. But how can a Word document become a newly respected document? Such chaos on the World Wide Web why could it happen?

Melissa’s story began with 31-year-old programmer David Lee Smith.

Smith was computer literate and As someone who can foresee the future of the internet He reflected this foresight in the codes he wrote.

Although the 90s internet was a new and exciting field for everyone for malicious activities It was also opening up a space.

like Microsoft Outlook Using a popular email client, Melissa quickly spread as a macro virus.

This worm, a Word macro, attacks people’s email lists. It automatically sent itself to the first 50 people. This process was happening over and over again, paralyzing the networks.

Within hours, more than 300 companies, including Microsoft and the United States Marine Corps, had their internet access cut off.

This is only in North America 80 million dollar company is wasting time caused.

Even Melissa’s creator, Smith, didn’t think the virus would cause this much damage. Despite cooperating with the FBI He was found guilty and sentenced to 20 months in prison.

However, the incident development of security software and contributed to making popular programs such as Microsoft Office more secure.

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