HyperCard viruses
Soon after the release of HyperCard in 1987, computer viruses appeared that targeted the application.[1] The viruses were written in the HyperTalk programming language and typically spread by infecting the Home stack and then infecting other stacks from there.[2][3]
List of viruses
| Name of Virus | Year discovered | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dukakis | 1988 | First known HyperCard virus.[1][4] Self-destructs after displaying a message encouraging people to vote for Michael Dukakis.[1][3] |
| 3 Tunes (or HC) | 1991[4] | First reported from Holland and Belgium.[4] On systems running the German Mac OS, the virus causes infected stacks to play three German folk tunes.[3] |
| MerryXmas | 1991[5] | Intended to simply propagate, but because of an error, the virus sometimes copies parts of other stack scripts along with its own code causing stacks to behave unexpectedly. Variants include Merry2Xmas, Lopez, and Crudshot.[3] |
| HC 9507 | 1995 | Causes the word "Pickle" to be typed at the cursor insertion point. May also cause the computer to crash.[3][6] |
| Antibody | 1997 | Eradicates the MerryXmas virus and installs MerryXmas inoculation code into infected stacks.[3] |
| Independance Day | 1997 | After July 4, 1997, unsuccessfully attempts to delete random lines of code from stacks.[3] |
| Blink | 1998 | After January 1, 1999, causes infected stacks to blink.[3] |
| Wormcode | 2000 | Originally posted to the usenet group "comp.sys.mac.hypercard" in a stack called "Font Preview". Aside from spreading, the virus does no damage.[3] |
References
- ^ a b c Cluley, Graham (3 October 2011). "History of Mac Malware: 1982 – 2011". Naked Security. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ Szor, Peter (2005). The Art of Computer Virus Research and Defense. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Addison-Wesley. pp. 91–92. ISBN 0672333902.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "HyperCard Viruses". HyperActive Software. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ a b c Harley, David (3 October 2011). "HyperCard Viruses? You're History!". Infosecurity Magazine. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
- ^ "Merryxmas Virus". Virus Test Center. University of Hamburg. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007.
- ^ Anbinder, Mark H. (31 July 1995). "New Virus Targets HyperCard Stacks". TidBITS. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
