14 DAY TRIAL // The Internet Archive (archive.org) has now added a special section that provides a historical look at how malware started out and has evolved over time.
Archive.org is the same service where you can find the highly useful Wayback Machine that lets users navigate older versions of some of the Internet's domains, and see how they have evolved over time.
Curated by Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer at F-Secure, the Malware Museum project aims to document the first attempts at infecting user computers and damaging their network.
The project lists only viruses from the '80s and '90s and has only 79 entries, but it's growing with each new day.
All entries are DOS viruses, and they're running inside the DOSBox game emulator. To prevent any damage, Mr. Hypponen removed most of the destructive capabilities these viruses had, and users can also safely download them on their computer and take a look at their internal make-up.
Compared to present-day malware that does everything it can to stay hidden and only specializes in stealing valuable information, old-school viruses were sometimes apocalyptic, with capabilities to physically destroy computers, and an art form at the same time, showing cool animations and playing catchy 8-bit music.
While, for most of us, the Malware Museum displays a piece of the software world we rarely interact with, for some security researchers, it may bring up a small tear in the corner of their eyes.
Oh no! Is my computer infected by the Walker virus? Nah, I visited The Malware Museum: https://t.co/AfbaT7BtGp pic.twitter.com/YGbXMoGSrM — Sean Sullivan (@5ean5ullivan) February 5, 2016