Since the birth of the Internet in 1969, there has been a rapid and progressive growth of malware. The advent of Artificial Intelligence has transformed these threats and they are becoming increasingly sophisticated and effective.
Η Grace Hopper, the mother of modern programming, was born on December 9, 1906. This date has been chosen in her honor, to commemorate the International Computer Science Day or what we now call World Informatics Day. On December 9th we celebrate not only the great advances in computer science, but also the necessary development of cyber security.
Η Check Point Software Technologies, a provider of cybersecurity solutions, presents a historical retrospective of IT and cybersecurity milestones to mark World IT Day and Check Point Software's 30th anniversary. From the birth of the Internet to the rise of Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity has been adapting to new IT demands and implementing new technologies to always counter cyberattacks.
Table of Contents
The beginning of cyber security
Cybersecurity was born when the first computers were able to network and transfer information to each other. This did not happen until the 1950s, when the first computer networks and modems were developed. Only in his decade 1960 cyber security began to take the form it is known for today. The creation of the internet came in 1969, when the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) managed to send a message from the University of California to the Stanford Research Center. This milestone marked the birth of cyberspace and with it the foundations of cybersecurity would begin to be laid.
1990: The advent of malware
In 1971, researcher Bob Thomas developed the first named virus Creeper. This malware moved through the ARPANET (as this first network would be called) and sent a message to infected devices that said: "I'm the creeper, catch me if you can." In response, Ray Tomlinson, the creator of email, developed a program called Reaper that sought to identify and eliminate creepers. The idea of cyber security would start at that time and the program developed by Ray Tomlinson would be considered the first antivirus. The 1980s saw an explosion of malware, which multiplied exponentially. At the time, they were mainly annoying because they broadcast chain messages, but there was still no desire to profit financially from such practices. As an answer, in 1987 John McAfee founded McAfee and launched VirusScan software, marking the commercial existence of antivirus.
The real Y2K: Loveletter
The new millennium began with the fear created by the Y2K problem: that the computer systems were flawed because the dates in the programs missed the centenary. They feared that with the turn of the millennium all the dates would be wrong and this would lead to failures and serious damage to all countries. There were indeed serious losses and misregulations at the turn of the millennium, but what that situation really showed was that society was becoming increasingly dependent on technology. At the time, there was no awareness of the actual damage that could be caused through the network. That was about to change with the infamous loveletter phishing virus, also known as “I love you”, which would spread in just five hours to computers in Asia, Europe and America. That virus caused economic damage estimated at 10 billion euros.
It was the first case and the one that heralded the beginning of phishing: users received an email message with the subject “I love you” and attached to it was the file “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs”. Upon opening, the virus would automatically run on the computer and take all email addresses in the inbox to continue spreading, making all files on the computer malicious. Many government groups were also affected by this virus, raising awareness of the importance of cyber security.
2010 : Let's not forget WannaCry
In the early 2000s, ransomware attacks began to appear in an increasingly sophisticated form. It was 2017 when the cyber attack known as WannaCry: a state-sponsored attack that spread internationally. WannaCry didn't make a huge difference in terms of profitability, as the ransom was only $300, but it marked the beginning of the political use of ransomware. Today it is a significant risk due to the increasingly sophisticated methods it uses and the consequent damages and serious economic losses it entails.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence is Here (2020 and Beyond)
The last few years have seen an increase in the sophistication of cyber attacks and ransomware attacks, with new means of attack actors on the rise, from supply chain attacks to artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, all industry experts predict the inevitable increase in cyber-attacks and new phishing media around the world, with our interconnected businesses and society. Regarding Greece an organization is attacked an average of 871 times per week in the last 6 months, with the leading malware being Emotet. The list of top malware in Greece includes 3 RATs, 1 Botnet (Emotet) and 1 Infostealer (AgentTesla), while 95% of malicious files in Greece were delivered via email in the last 30 days.
Artificial intelligence marks a turning point in the evolution of cyberattacks, as this type of technology allows threats to be more frequent, faster and more effective. Techniques like deepfake manage to credibly impersonate relevant identities and companies to steal information, phishing attacks are becoming more convincing, and new variants of ransomware and malware are developing rapidly and are more cost-effective. As the techniques of cybercriminals evolve rapidly, cyber security is also using artificial intelligence to improve its defensive methods to keep pace.
“It is staggering to see the speed with which we have developed the entire cyber complex: from the creation of the internet, the spread of increasingly sophisticated malware and the consequent development of cyber security. But even more impressive is the thought of what's to come," explains Ostantina Koukou, Channel Account Manager & Evangelist, Check Point Software. "Artificial intelligence has opened a new door in the technological age and creates serious threats, but also sophisticated protection methods and technical breakthroughs. We are only at the beginning of significant changes in the technological and global firmament".
