The Science Quiz | Exploring the World of Computer Viruses

Test Your Knowledge on the History and Evolution of Malicious Software

Questions:

1. On January 30, 1982, computer programmer Richard Skrenta created the first computer virus to spread independently to other systems. This virus would display a poem about itself every 50th time an infected program was executed. What was its name?

2. Considered the first virus to target the original IBM Personal Computer, this program was released on January 19, 1986, by Amjad Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq Alvi from Lahore, Pakistan. What was it called?

3. What term describes malicious code that alters its algorithm with each execution while retaining its function? This technique posed a major challenge for early antivirus software.

4. Building on the previous question, some viruses go a step further by completely rewriting their own code, changing their functionality and enabling the infection of new targets. What is this type of code called?

5. Identify the computer worm discovered in 2010, believed to have been developed in 2005, which was responsible for major disruptions to Iran’s nuclear program by damaging centrifuges.

6. Name the Hungarian-American scientist who, in a 1949 lecture, introduced the concept of self-replicating computer programs, an idea that later led to the development of computer viruses.

Answers:

1. Elk Cloner

2. Brain

3. Polymorphic code

4. Metamorphic code

5. Stuxnet

6. John von Neumann