The Bit Defender

Prof Fred Cohen, on the 3rd of November 1983, created the first documented computer virus. He "injected" this virus into a graphical program called VD that was written for Vax mini-computer. In his demonstration, the virus paralyzed the operation of the computer.

The term 'virus' was coined only the next year. More than 110,000 virus exist today. Cohen started theoritical research in the early 1980's; he set up practical experiments involving viral programs to demonstrate data theft and to show how a virus could seize the functioning of computer by virtue of it's ability to replicate. In 1989, Cohen won the International Information Technology award for his work on data integrity protection.

Cohen has designed network protocals for secure tranfer of voice, video, and data. He helped to develop a cash-watch, which we now know as the electronic wallet. His recomendations for good practices in the data protection are now used the world over, including the idea that only system administrators should have complete access to critical components of a system like file servers, and that other users should have limited access. The ideas of regular backups and audit trials to be maintained regularly are also due to Cohen.