Detail map of Commercial Area, Upper Mall Scheme, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan Overview map of Commercial Area, Upper Mall Scheme, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

A: Commercial Area, Upper Mall Scheme, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

"Brain", the First PC Virus Epidemic, Created in Lahore, Pakistan

1/1986
Screenshot of the boot sector of a floppy disc infected by the Brain boot sector virus.

Screenshot of the boot sector of a floppy disc infected by the Brain boot sector virus.

The Brain boot sector virus (aka Pakistani flu), considered the first IBM PC compatible virus, and the program responsible for the first IBM PC compatible virus epidemic, was released in January 1986. Also known as Lahore, Pakistani, Pakistani Brain, the virus was created in Lahore, Pakistan by 19 year old Pakistani programmer, Basit Farooq Alvi, and his brother, Amjad Farooq Alvi. The virus which was not destructive, was spread by floppy disk.

In 2011 computer security expert Mikko Hyppönen produced and uploaded to YouTube a documentary interview of the Alvi brothers in Lahore, Pakistan

 

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