📸

Grosse-computervirenbuich, was published by Data Becker GmbH of Dusseldorf.⁵ In the book Burger warned: ‘Travelling at what seems the speed of moving electrons, comical, sometimes destructive programs known as viruses have been spreading through the international computer community like an uncontrollable plague.’ There was in fact no hard evidence for this statement, and later in the book, contradicting the apocalyptic tone of the first section, Burger admitted: ‘So far it has been impossible to find proof of a virus attack.’

Later that year, two new viruses appeared. The first was created by the Greek computer magazine Pixel, which had hired a local computer wizard named Nick Nassufis to write one. The magazine published the virus as a list of BASIC-language instructions in the April 1987 issue. Readers who keyed in the instructions found themselves with a fully functioning virus on their computers. It didn’t do much apart from replicate, but from time to time it would display a poorly written English language message on the computer screen: ‘Program sick error: call doctor or buy Pixel for cure description.’ Three months later Pixel published instructions for wiping it out.

Then, as Burger was preparing the second edition of his book, he received a copy of a virus found in Vienna by a local journalist. This virus, now known as the Vienna virus, was said to have appeared at an Austrian university in December 1987. Its writer is unknown – as are the writers of most viruses.

Burger described Vienna as ‘extremely clever’. By the standards of virus-writing today it wasn’t, but it was certainly the hottest thing seen in 1987. Vienna is known as a ‘file virus’: it attaches itself to what are known in the computer industry somewhat tediously as ‘executable files’ (i.e. the software, such as a word-processing program, that actually makes a computer do something useful). When an infected program is loaded on to a computer from a diskette (or transferred in a network), Vienna comes with it and slips itself into the computer’s memory. It then looks for other executable files to infect, and after infecting seven it damages the eighth, simply by overwriting itself on to the program code.

Although the payload of the Vienna virus was destructive – the lost code on the eighth program was irrecoverable – by the standards of present-day viruses it wasn’t particularly malicious. More danger-

📸