First Compatible Virus in 1986

2022-01-19

First Compatible Virus in 1986

My career has been based on the "compatible" computer. This is what began as the intel cpu "IBM PC" compatible machine which originally ran on MS-DOS in 640K of RAM and has evolved over the years dragging me kicking and screaming into the information age where I abandoned my childhood career dreams and pursued technology without looking back.

From the totally frivolous efforts file we remember the first virus let loose on the compatible PC world back in 1986.

It was a boot sector infector called ©Brain by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to combat the unauthorized copying of the software they distributed.

The first iteration was released on January 19, 1986 and was pretty doggone mild as far as such cyber attacks go.

ALSO it should be stated that the brothers explained profusely that this effort was not an exploit and the payload even reported their name, address, three phone numbers, and a message explaining the mess.

Welcome to the Dungeon © 1986 Basit & Amjads (pvt). BRAIN COMPUTER SERVICES 730 NIZAM BLOCK ALLAMA IQBAL TOWN LAHORE-PAKISTAN PHONE: 430791,443248,280530. Beware of this VIRUS.... Contact us for vaccination...

The program was designed to track a heart monitoring program for the IBM PC as well as pirated copies of the distrubution media.

It kind of went overboard and I'm glad I escaped it entirely.

Since this humble beginning we have experienced much more devastating exploits written by those who would harm the world for personal gain.