Not A Very Merry Christmas - Looking Back to 1987
Christmas Tree EXEC was the first widely disruptive computer worm which paralysed several international computer networks in December 1987.
Christmas Tree EXEC was an early mass mailing worm coded by an unnamed student from Clausthal University of Technology. This was the first widely disruptive computer worm which paralysed several international computer networks including the European Academic Research Network (EARN), the BITNET and IBM's VNet which came to a standstill for 2 days. The only way IBM could cure the worm was by shutting down the whole network.
The worm looked like a Christmas Tree with a harmless Xmas message beside it. Below is the original message and worm… Did you fall victim?
*
***
*****
*******
*********
************* A
*******
*********** VERY
***************
******************* HAPPY
***********
*************** CHRISTMAS
*******************
*********************** AND MY
***************
******************* BEST WISHES
***********************
*************************** FOR THE NEXT
******
****** YEAR
******
How did it work?
The program arrived via email with the subject “Let this exec run and enjoy yourself” and was executed by the user typing “Christmas.” Once executed, it displayed the ASCII Christmas Tree, as seen above, then sent itself to each entry in the targets email contacts file.
From here, it spread to the likes of EARN and IBM and caused mass disruption to business and individuals alike.
Christmas Tree EXEC was the first program to paralyse a network and it highlighted the need to educate computer users about opening strange or unexpected emails.
How can Renaissance help?
At Renaissance, our focus is to help develop your business profitability and efficiency through security and compliance. We work with a wide range of vendors to provide the complete range of security services to protect businesses, employees and stop such events like Christmas Tree EXEC from disrupting your business processes.
We also deliver accreditation for selling data security and compliance solutions including;
- Encryption
- Complete Endpoint Protection
- Mobile Security
- Email Security
- Email Archiving
- Unified Threat Storage
- Managed Security Services
If you would like to know more about Renaissance and our services, click here
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I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!