The Michelangelo Virus

On March 6, 1992, a pre-internet era virus caused what was arguably the first ever public malware scare in history.

The Michelangelo virus scare remains a significant turning point for computer security, 25 years after its supposed major impact. On March 6, 1992, the impact of Michelangelo differed from what was expected.

Only a few thousand computers were found to have been infected by the virus, a far cry from the upper-end estimates. In fact, subsequent research made after the scare revealed that other virus variants were discovered far more frequently than Michelangelo.