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Who made the world's first virus?

Published in Computer Virus History 1 min read

The world's first computer virus, known as "Brain", was created by Basit and Amjad Farooq Alvi, two brothers who ran a computer store in Pakistan. The virus was released in its first form on January 19, 1986, and spread through 5.2" floppy disks.

While the Alvi brothers are credited with creating the first known computer virus, it's important to note that the concept of self-replicating programs was theorized much earlier. In the late 1940s, John von Neumann, a German mathematician and father of game theory, envisioned a computer virus. However, these were just theoretical concepts and not actual implementations.

The first known program that exhibited virus-like behavior was the Creeper program, created in 1971 by Bob Thomas of BBN. This program would copy itself to other computers on the network, displaying the message "I'm the Creeper: Catch me if you can!"

While the Creeper program was an early example of self-replication, it wasn't considered a true virus as it didn't harm or corrupt data. It was simply a demonstration of a self-replicating program.

Therefore, the Alvi brothers are widely recognized for creating the world's first computer virus that caused real damage and spread rapidly.