40th anniversary of the very first computer virus

The very first computer virus called Creeper will be 40 years old this year, Vesti.Ru reports. It was created in 1971 by employees of the network maintenance company established by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in USA. Creeper was not a fullly-featured virus as it did not damage computers. It looked for computers in the network, copied itself and showed the message "I'm the creeper, catch me if you can!" In case the virus found its copy on the computer, it moved to another one. Currently one of the most dangerous viruses is Stuxnet. It can damage plants, power stations and other industrial facilities. Experts suggest that the hackers’ next aim may be smart-phones used for electronic payments. Nuclear facilities in Iran were infected with Stuxnet in the fall of 2010. As per experts, the consequences of US hackers’ attacks had serious effects on the work of nuclear facilities.