In 2002, the Caric-A Worm virus spread all across computers in the United States of America, but the file itself was really funny for the damage it was trying to do (Help Net Security, 2002). In this virus, a corrupted file, emailed with the subject “bill caricature’, would show a cartoon of President Bill Clinton playing the saxophone while a female’s bra would pop out of the saxophone (Compare Business Products, 2012). Then, it would show a fake message from the McAfee antivirus company, saying that the email contained no viruses at all, although the message was misspelled (Help Net Security, 2002). While this would be considered an example of a virus created for fun and to make people laugh and not necessarily to get people’s information without their consent, there are some very evil people in the world who create viruses for horrible reasons. Of course, there are several theories out there as to why these cyber criminals take the time and effort to create such evil things to harm people’s devices. But my theory is that people create these viruses in order to get revenge on a company or person, spread negativity, or get a cheap thrill.
The first reason why people love to create computer viruses to harm people’s devices is so they can spread negativity for fun. As we have seen with recent world events (i.e. overall lack of gratitude and respect for authority in the youth), people are negative, ignorant, and ungrateful, due to the use of changing technology (Forster, 2018). This changing media can include social media websites that encourage toxicity just for fun, designer shopping websites that make teenagers and young adults whine in their parents’ ears about wanting the latest fashion, or, for those who commit crimes for fun, hacking software and virus creation platforms. As a result of
people wanting to be negative and showing no respect for authority figures or those who are thought of as less superior to them, most people create viruses to further spread negative energy, especially to positive people. In fact, Computer Hope states that people love to create computer viruses to “cause trouble and make others suffer” (Computer Hope, 2022). Instead of picking people up when they’re feeling down and encouraging positivity in the world, these cyber criminals and bullies are furthering negativity in the world and getting a thrill in the process.
This leads to the next reason why people love to create computer viruses just for fun: People want to get a thrill. As we have also seen with this generation and the various TikTok challenges that involve people, mainly teenagers and pre-teens, doing things to harm themselves for fun and to get a thrill, people do whatever they have to do to get a thrill and be cool. They don’t think about the potential harm that they can do to themselves and others, or the potential legal consequences of their actions. The same thing can be said about computer virus creators.
According to Computer Hope, it’s not just about the money that can be made or the fame that they can receive: It’s “the thrill of seeing the havoc and chaos that they create” that is the main motivating factor for computer virus creators (Computer Hope, 2022). Everyone wants a thrill, but there are ways to do it that don’t involve negativity, breaking the law, or malice towards another individual or company.
This leads to my third and final reason why I feel that computer virus creators love to create computer viruses: They are holding a grudge against a person and/or company and want revenge against them. Whenever people have a problem with something or when someone does something negative to them, especially if it involves money or physical and mental abuse, they naturally want to make the person suffer the same way that they are suffering, or even worse, they want the perpetrator to feel their pain, but ten times worse. So they resort to various ways of
ruining that person’s life, which can include physical violence, mental abuse, getting the person fired from a job, or creating computer viruses to wipe out entire networks. For example, in Bulgaria, a hotspot for virus creation back in the 1980’s, one student, who was studying in Plovdiv, created a virus to infect a tutor’s files in school simply because he was mad at him (Shapiro, 2023). Another example coming out of Bulgaria would be an incident where two
co-workers created a virus that made a paper sound when infecting the files as an act of revenge towards a boss for not paying them on time (Shapiro, 2023). The lesson in these cases would be that if you try to get revenge on a person, especially by creating a computer virus to harm important files, you are no better than that person, if not a little bit worse.
Some people might say that I am wrong. They might say that people create computer viruses because they are psychopathic or because they want fame and fortune or even for money. In fact, according to Shane Harris in his 2014 article for Foreign Policy. Com, people make around $300,000 selling computer viruses on the dark web (Harris, 2014). However, I see the good in people and I don’t think that virus creators are psychopathic, want attention, or want in on the black market of computer viruses. People do a lot of stupid things for fun, a thrill, or because they’re mad. But that doesn’t mean we should put them in a box and call them the villain. They were just making stupid decisions for their own pleasure.
To conclude, computer virus creators, in my opinion, take the time to create such destructive things because they want revenge on somebody, want to spread negativity and negative energy for fun, or they want a cheap thrill. But this isn’t the only theory out there. People have other theories in mind about this, but there’s no surefire opinion. All we can do is guess and assume, see the good in these people, and hope that they’ll change. The consumers can
also protect their devices by maintaining proper computer hygiene, ignoring links, calling out the scammers, and more. Then, we can have a virus free world.
Sources Cited
Forster, E. A. (2018). Ungrateful millennials. Humans. https://vocal.media/humans/ungrateful-millennials
Harris, S. (2014, March 25). Black market for malware and cyber weapons is thriving. Foreign Policy.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/03/25/black-market-for-malware-and-cyber-weapons-is-thr iving/
Help Net Security. (2002, April 8). Sophos Anti-Virus says Bill Caricature isn’t funny. https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2002/04/08/sophos-anti-virus-says-bill-caricature-isnt-fu nny/
Hope, C. (2022, May 3). Why do people create viruses and malware?. Computer Hope. https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001404.htm#:~:text=Causing%20problems%20a nd%20trouble&text=Some%20malware%20can%20crash%20an,create%20more%20virus es%20and%20malware.
Shapiro, S. J. (2023, May 9). On the trail of the dark avenger: The most dangerous virus writer in the world. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/may/09/on-the-trail-of-the-dark-avenger-the-mos t-dangerous-virus-writer-in-the-world
Top 10 hilarious viruses, trojans and worms. Compare Business Products. (2012, August 25).
https://www.comparebusinessproducts.com/fyi/top-10-hilarious-viruses-trojans-worms
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