Beware the Friday the 13th virus

14 hours ago
2 min read

On Friday the 13th, 1989 the 'Friday the 13th' computer virus struck personal computers across the globe, wiping out files and annoying businesses. Officially known as the Jerusalem virus, the mystery of who created it and why has never been solved.

It was first discovered in October of 1987 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (which is how it got its official name). This was back in the days before the internet and modern antivirus, so it spread organically, latching onto floppy disks as they were being shared among friends and coworkers. Once it got to a computer on a network, it would spread to all of the connected machines.

Its most famous feature was its "logic bomb" trigger. If the computer's internal clock was any Friday the 13th, the virus would delete any program the user tried to open that day. The outbreak on Friday, January 13, 1989, was particularly severe, hitting businesses, universities and government agencies across the US and the UK, cementing its infamous legacy.

The Takeaway

So it was an old fashioned smash-hack, but have the tactics really changed? It's been 37 years since the Friday the 13th virus but cybercrime strategies that worked then, still work today. You still have to pay attention. I recommend:

Be cautions of physical media like usb drives. Just like the 1989 virus spread via shared floppy disks, modern malware often travels on infected USB drives, so never plug untrusted physical media to your computer.
Verify your downloads. To avoid the modern equivalent of downloading infected files from early bulletin boards, only download software from official sources and be highly skeptical of unsolicited email links or attachments.
Update your defenses. Because this virus relied on a delayed "logic bomb" to strike on a specific date, always keep your operating system and antivirus software updated to detect and neutralize dormant threats before they can trigger.