This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to March 2003, when VB reported on a piece of research investigating the psychological toll inflicted by computer viruses.
One could argue that there is more to be feared from the malware infections of today than those of yesteryear — after all, today's malware may lead to identity theft,
serious financial loss, loss of intellectual property and more. But 14 years ago virus infections were already causing anxiety, frustration and anger
among those affected, and in 2003, VB reported on a piece of research investigating the psychological toll inflicted by computer viruses.
In the summer of 2001, W32/Sircam infiltrated the server at Tulane University, New Orleans, infecting both personal and institutional computers, including those of
Tulane University Health Sciences Center. As the self-propagating worm grabbed documents from infected computers and sent them to email address book
contacts, the medical doctors at the Center were understandably concerned about the possibility of sensitive documents being sent to other individuals. Not only that, but infected individuals had the additional concerns
of whether the worm had damaged their personal computers, whether the damage could be repaired, whether they would lose any important personal documents or information, and how much time and money they
would they have to expend to repair this damage.
Psychiatrist Dr H.W. LeBourgeois, who was working at Tulane University at the time, observed anxiety, frustration and anger among those
affected by this piece of malware and wondered: what is the actual psychological toll inflicted by computer viruses? He ran a study to attempt to answer this
question, and reported his findings in the March 2003 issue of Virus Bulletin.