Twenty years ago tomorrow, PC owners cowered in fear
After a week-long run-up in which “the media went potty about the Michelangelo virus,” March 6, 1992 turned out to be something of a bust, recounts Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. Cluley writes on his Naked Security blog:
Because March 6th 1992 was day zero for the Great Michelangelo Virus Scare, the first and probably one of the biggest computer virus scares that the world has ever seen.
For days, the world’s media had been predicting a digital disaster on March 6th. Anti-virus luminary John McAfee was even being quoted saying that up to five million PCs around the world could be wiped out by the Michelangelo virus.
Didn’t happen.
If your memories of the event have faded or were never fully formed, Cluley’s post offers an entertaining recap that also helps explain why the antivirus industry is so renowned for fear mongering.
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