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1947: A Bug is Born. Grace Murray Hopper, a researcher at Harvard, notes a system failure and finds a moth trapped in relay panels.
1962: A group of Bell Telephone Labs researchers invent a game that destroys software programs.
1971: The Creeper Virus appears on ARPANET, forerunner of the Internet. It replicates itself and displays a message: "I'm the Creeper: Catch Me if You Can."
1974: A virus named Rabbit spreads across a network and generates copies of itself, impairing performance until a computer crashes.
1981: The first widespread outbreak of a virus on the Apple II platform. Elk Cloner spreads by floppy disk and infects boot sectors, generating messages and impairing performance.
1983. The term "computer virus" comes into vogue after Professor Len Adleman at Lehigh University demonstrates the concept at a seminar.
1986: The first global epidemic on the PC platform, the Brain virus, shows businesses and consumers are clueless about protection.
1987: The Vienna virus goes global. It is the first virus to destroy data.
1987: One of Vienna's alleged authors creates a program to neutralize it - the predecessor to today's antivirus software.
1989: IBM introduces Viruscan for MS-DOS to combat the growing array of malware. It sells for $35.
1990: The Chameleon becomes the first documented polymorphic virus -- malware that adapts and changes to avoid detection.
1991: With over 300 viruses documented, several antivirus vendors enter the market, including Norton Antivirus (later Symantec).
1996: Virus writers begin to assault the Microsoft Windows platform in earnest. Laroux, the first Excel virus, appears in the wild.
1998: Viruses like Win32.HLLP.DeTroi relay data about compromised computers; thieves steal passwords and control systems remotely.
2001: E-mail and the Net become primary transmission vectors, as scripts automatically load viruses from infected Websites.
2003: Widespread Internet attacks; Slammer infects memory in computers worldwide, clogging networks and causing shutdowns.
2005: Sony BMG introduces secret DRM software to report music copying; Other rootkits appear, providing hidden access to systems.
2007: Botnets infect millions worldwide. Zombie systems send spam, generate Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, compromise passwords and data.
TODAY: Symantec reports attacks cost an average of $2.9 million annually for large enterprises; Cyber-security is the top concern of IT managers.
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