When I first worked in “IT” 26 years ago (1998) I was in a large UK PC manufacturer in PC Support. The CIH virus, also known as the Chernobyl virus emerged and targeted Windows 95 and 98 systems. Created by Taiwanese student Chen Ing-Hau (CIH), it triggered on April 26th annually, coinciding with the Chernobyl nuclear disaster anniversary.
CIH’s destructive payload erased data, corrupted hard drives, and even resulted in permanent hardware damage by overwriting the BIOS firmware. CIH was infamous for its severe impact, highlighting the necessity for robust antivirus solutions and regular updates to defend against malware threats.
We had wave after wave of these affected machines back for repair, we had to burn new BIOS’s and reimage them. This caused havoc to BAU operations as a PC manufacturer and left a foul taste in customers mouths. If I’m truthful with myself this is the first event that I remember that took viruses from a mere annoyance to costing you or a business money! I guess this is what fascinated me with security even at this early stage in an IT career.
