First Computer Virus Discovered In 1981

In the early 1970s Creeper was found an ARPANET. It was a worm that moved through modems to other systems where it displayed the message “I’M THE CREEPER : CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.” As described in Robert Slade’s history, the first virus in the wild actually predated the experimental work that defined current-day viruses. It was spread on Apple II floppy disks (which contained the operating system) and reputed to have spread from Texas A&M. [Side note: Thanks to a pointer from anti-virus pioneer Fridrik Skulason we know the virus was named Elk Cloner and displayed a little rhyme on the screen. The "Elk Cloner" for the Apple II Systems was created by Richard Skrenta. It infected the Apple DOS 3.3 and spread to other computers by floppy disk transfer. The "Elk Virus" was responsible for being the first computer virus to cause a massive outbreak ever in history. A program called Elk Cloner, written for Apple II systems, was created by Richard Skrenta. The Apple II was seen as particularly vulnerable due to the storage of its operating system on floppy disk. Elk Cloner's design combined with public ignorance about what malware was and how to protect against it led to Elk Cloner being responsible for the first large-scale computer virus outbreak in history. The term ``computer virus'' was formally defined by Fred Cohen in 1983, while he performed academic experiments on a Digital Equipment Corporation VAX system. Viruses are classified as being one of two types: research or ``in the wild.'' A research virus is one that has been written for research or study purposes and has received almost no distribution to the public. On the other hand, viruses which have been seen with any regularity are termed ``in the wild.'' The first computer viruses were developed in the early 1980s. The first viruses found in the wild were Apple II viruses, such as Elk Cloner, which was reported in 1981.