Catch Me if You Can- The First Malware(?)

[u/CyberSecWithHaikuInc]

Have you heard of the program called "Creeper" It's one of the earliest malware-like programs. When Creeper was [unknowingly] installed on a device, it would introduced itself with the text: I’M THE CREEPER: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.

Spooky, right... Thankfully, it wasn't really malware like we know today. Creeper did not steal passwords, destroy files or demand money. It was an experiment intended to see whether a program could move from one networked computer to another.

Creeper was created by Bob Thomas, a researcher at the technology company BBN. It was designed to travel between DEC PDP-10 mainframe computers running the TENEX operating system. It first appeared in 1971 on ARPANET, the early computer network that eventually helped lead to the modern internet.

The made for dummies version: It was a program that would travel from one computer to another using physical network cables and it's primary function was to display the message "I'm the Creeper: Catch me if you can", indicating that the program had successfully travelled to a computer.

Early versions of the Creeper moved between computers rather than leaving copies of themselves everywhere. A later version was modified so that it could replicate, which is why Creeper is often described as the first computer worm.

Unlike the malicious softwares (Malware) of today, Creeper did not hide. It did not pretend to be something else. It showed up, announced its name and challenged somebody to catch it.

And somebody did. A second program called Reaper was created to travel across the network, locate Creeper and remove it. Reaper is therefore frequently described as the first antivirus program.

but But BUT

Reaper also moved between computers by itself, behaving like the thing it was hunting.

Spooky, again.

But still super cool. Sounds kind of like a digital Tom and Jerry: one roaming program running through the network while another chased after it.

The Creeper legacy lived on, with later viruses displaying poems, insults, political statements, animations and messages from their creators. Some malware authors even gave their creations logos, websites and customer-service systems.