Thirty-five years ago, as December 1989 turned into January 1990, the then-largest ever cybercrime investigation was launched in response to the world's first known example of ransomware. This first ransomware payload was secreted on a 5.25-inch floppy disk titled "AIDS Information — Introductory Diskette 2.0" [h/t Heise.de]. The pioneering ransomware was developed by one American biologist, Dr. Joseph Lewis Andrew Popp Jr., and about 20.000 copies were distributed to subscribers of the magazine PC Business World, various mailing lists, and even to World Health Organization delegates during a conference on AIDS.
As one may be able to deduce by the years and names being thrown around, this attack's choice of target was highly intelligent and the method of delivery exploited people's existing fears of a terrifying new biological virus at a time when knowledge of regular computer viruses was at an all-time low — much less an all-new form of malware meant to extort its victims.
