𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 | 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗜𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝘃𝗶𝗿𝘂𝘀: 𝗔 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴

Report by Ellyza Jane Gutierrez | Graphics by Angel Chogyomon | Layout by Jayane Leslie Feliciano

'Tis the season of love, a perfect time to look back on the lawbreaking "LOVE" so dangerous and contagious it once took over the whole world.

It is the year 2000, you are on your computer. If it were as advanced you would have been scrolling through Facebook or watching YouTube videos, but the internet was basically in its infancy stage around this time, so let's just imagine you're on AOL, trying to shoot your shot with a crush when suddenly, your receive an e-mail with the subject line "ILOVEYOU." Giddy as can be, you opened the email without forethought, and in it, you see the message, "Kindly check the attached love letter from me!" followed by an attachment with the filename:

𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴-𝙻𝙴𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁-𝙵𝙾𝚁-𝚈𝙾𝚄.𝚃𝚇𝚃.𝚟𝚋𝚜

Daydreaming a romantic turn in your life, you clicked the file without forethought, and congrats!! You got the ILOVEYOU virus!!! As of the moment, a worm is crawling through your system and is on its way to wreak havoc on your personal computer. Before you even know it, your PC is already infected. Good luck saving your files, because if they are nowhere to be found, chances are the worm is sneakily hiding them from you or has deleted them already.

In the year 2000, a computer worm widely known as the ILOVEYOU virus had infected over ten million Windows personal computers from across the globe, causing damages worth billions of dollars. The worm, disguised as an unassuming love letter, works by making copies of itself and hiding them as system files that will run automatically as the computer restarts. It then downloads a malware to steal the victims' passwords, damages system files, then automatically sends itself to everyone in the victim's email contacts.

The mastermind behind the ILOVEYOU virus—a Filipino guy named Onel de Guzman, who was then a computer science student at AMA Computer College. As absurd as it sounds, it all started as an undergraduate thesis. De Guzman proposed the development of a trojan to steal internet login details, claiming that this would allow users to have an internet connection. He believed that internet access was a human right, coming from the fact that he was poor and struggling to pay for it at the time. Expectedly, the proposal was rejected, considering it is outright illegal. De Guzman went with it anyway and started developing the worm after dropping out of college.

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𝘍𝘶𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 "𝘐𝘓𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘶𝘴," 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺. 𝘈 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥-𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘦-𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘔𝘚 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘭𝘺. 𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵, 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵.

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Inadvertently, the spread of the ILOVEYOU virus prompted major enterprises who were infected to be more cautious and wary of malicious attacks like this that attempt to corrupt their computer network. Today, a lot of programs have already been developed to protect devices against such malwares. However, cybersecurity measures should remain crucial even for us, everyday users, as the internet has increasingly become a breeding ground for the likes of the___EYOU virus.