This fall marks the 40th birthday of the Internet, and to celebrate it, Symantec, the manufacturer of online Security software, has put out a list of the "Top Web Threats in the History of the Internet."

    Symantec has an interest, of course, in bringing you this treat. The company hopes the memory of worms gone by will entice you to buy its software to protect yourself.

    But it's still an interesting list, and you may enjoy arguing with it, suggesting additions, even remembering times past -- unless, of course, your computer was hit by one of these worms or viruses.

    So here goes. The descriptions are Symantec's.

    1. I Love You （2000） -- Who wouldn't open an e-mail with "I Love You" in the subject line? Well, that was the problem. By May 2000, 50 million infections of this worm had been reported. The Pentagon, the CIA, and the British Parliament all had to shut down their e-mail systems in order to purge the threat.

    2. Conficker （2009） -- The Conficker worm has created a secure, worldwide infrastructure for cybercrime. The worm allows its creators to remotely install software on infected machines. What will that software do? We don't know. Most likely the worm will be used to create a botnet that will be rented out to criminals who want to send SPAM, steal IDs and direct users to online scams and phishing sites.

    3. Melissa （1999） -- Melissa was an exotic dancer, and David L. Smith was obsessed with her and also with writing viruses. The virus he named after Melissa and released to the world on March 26, 1999, kicked off a period of high-profile threats that rocked the Internet between 1999 and 2005.

    4. Slammer （2003） -- This fast-moving worm managed to temporarily bring much of the Internet to its knees in January 2003. The threat was so aggressive that it was mistaken by some countries to be an organized attack against them.

    5. Nimda （2001） -- A mass-mailing worm that uses multiple methods to spread itself, within 22 minutes, Nimda became the Internet's most widespread worm. The name of the virus came from the reversed spelling of "admin."

    今年秋天標志因特網的 40 歲生日，為了慶祝它，賽門鐵克這家網絡安全軟件的制造商發布了一個"在因特網歷史中的頂級網絡威脅"欄目。

    賽門鐵克公司當然有興趣把這種款待帶給你。這個公司希望網絡蠕蟲走過的記憶會吸引你購買它的軟件來保護自己。

    但是，它仍然是一個有趣的清單，你可能樂意和它爭議，提出建議補充，甚至記住過去的時代--當然，除非你的電腦受到過一個這樣的蠕蟲或病毒的攻擊。

    所以開始吧。下面是賽門鐵克公司的敘述。

    1. 我愛你病毒（2000年）--誰不想打開一封在主題行里帶有"我愛你"的電子郵件呢？ 好了，這就是問題所在。2000 年 5 月前，報告有 5 千萬例感染這個蠕蟲。為了清除這個威脅，五角大樓、中央情報局和英國議會都必須關閉他們的電子郵件系統。

    2. 愚人節病毒（2009年）--愚人節病毒蠕蟲已經創造出一套安心地用于網絡犯罪的全球基礎結構。這個蠕蟲讓它的創造者可以在受感染的機器上遠程安裝軟件。這個軟件做什么呢？ 我們不知道。最有可能地是可以用這個蠕蟲來創建一個僵尸網絡，將它租給想要送出垃圾郵件、偷竊證件的犯罪人員，進行網上詐騙的直接用戶，以及網絡釣魚網站。

    3. 梅利莎病毒（1999年）--梅麗莎是一位脫衣舞女，大衛？L·史密斯迷戀她并且也寫作病毒。他以梅麗莎命名這個病毒并且在 1999 年 3 月 26 日向世界公布，開始了一段引人注目的威脅，在 1999 年至 2005 年間震撼了互聯網。

    4. 速客一號病毒（2003年）--2003 年 1 月，這個快速移動的蠕蟲設法暫時地使大部份的網路向它屈服。威脅是那樣的咄咄逼人，以致一些國家認為是對他們的一次有組織的攻擊。

    5.尼姆達病毒（2001年）--一一種集合的郵件蠕蟲，采用多種方法來傳播自己，在 22 分鐘內，尼姆達成為互聯網上最普遍的蠕蟲。該病毒的名字來自于反拼寫的"admin".