Every time I read about modern ransomware or AI-powered attacks, I like to remember where it all started. Because the history of computer viruses is weirder, funnier and scarier than most people think.

1971: Creeper, the polite intruder

The first self-replicating program is usually credited to Bob Thomas at the company BBN. It was called Creeper , and it hopped between computers on ARPANET , the ancestor of the internet, printing a message:

I'M THE CREEPER: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

It did no harm. It was an experiment. And soon someone wrote Reaper , a program designed to find and delete Creeper. So the first virus came with the first antivirus. Some things never change.

1982: Elk Cloner, the teenage prank

A 15-year-old named Rich Skrenta wrote Elk Cloner for the Apple II. It spread through floppy disks and, every 50th boot, showed a little poem. Annoying, not dangerous.…