25 years after the first virus for MS-DOS appeared in the wild, a new mini-documentary on the Web explains how it spread across the planet and why it was created.
2011 is the 25th anniversary of the debut of “Brain”, which is widely considered to be the first computer virus to appear on MS-DOS. While the virus didn’t exactly destroy operating systems, it became infamous when it spread across the world via floppy disks and frightened a slew of computer owners. The identities of the men who created the virus has been public knowledge, but they’ve never spoken publicly about their creation … until now, that is.
Mikko Hypponen, the Chief Research Officer for F-Secure, decided to track down the two men – brothers Amjad Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq Alvi – based on the contact information that was actually provided in Brain’s code. Along the way, Hypponen made a short documentary about his trip. As it turns out, the Alvi brothers still work out of the same address in Pakistan; they run a company called Brain Telecommunication Limited.
Hypponen’s ten-minute documentary is actually rather fascinating (and lovely) to watch, especially when Hypponen speaks to the Alvis and they talk about the motives behind the virus’s creation. The best moment, though, is when Hypponen brings the Brain virus “home” to the two men on one of its original floppy disks.
Source: Geeks Are Sexy
