Nostalgic for 1980s DOS viruses? Malware museum now open

The non-profit Internet Archive library unveiled a virtual Malware Museum, which offers a look back at some of the hacking community's earliest attempts to infect computers.

Assembled by computer security expert Mikko Hypponen and Internet Archive archivist and curator Jason Scott, the site includes a gallery of screen images from computers infected with various throwback viruses from the 1980s and 1990s.

The collection includes such highlights as:

LSD, a virus that overwrites directories and displays a trippy, multicolor video effect FRODO, a stealth DOS virus that acknowledges Lord of the Rings by launching a trojan and displaying the message “FRODO LIVES!” on Sept. 22, the hobbit character's birthday COFFSHOP, a virus that displays a marijuana leaf graphic with the words “LEGALIZE CANNAbIS”

Fear not: clicking on the malware archives is perfectly safe—the malicious coding has already been removed by the digital curators.

Check out the Malware Museum here.

This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com