A “novel” virus is one that has not been previously identified, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[1]  In 2000, like the COVID-19 virus that was officially named on February 11, 2020, the ILOVEYOU virus became a global pandemic for data systems.  Within days, millions of computers were infected as the virus compromised files and caused widespread email outages.  The virus appeared in inboxes as fake messages with infected attachments:

Since then, scores of novel viruses have been deployed as destructive malware.  The ILOVEYOU virus, MyDoom worm, SOBig spam, and WannaCry ransomware alone are said to be responsible for $95 billion in financial damages.  As a result, anti-virus software has become a multi-billion-dollar, must-have computer program, and cybersecurity has become a multidisciplinary industry fighting an evolving threatscape.
Continue Reading Is Your Incident Response Plan Ready for Novel Computer Viruses?

In a recent Cybercrime Tactics and Techniques Report focusing on the health care industry, cybersecurity company Malwarebytes discovered a significant 82% spike in Trojan malware attacks on health care organizations in Q3 2019. Emotet and TrickBot, two especially sophisticated and dangerous forms of malware, were mostly responsible for this surge.

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