Most dangerous laptop in the world sold as artwork for $1.3m

It seems that the threat of the computer virus has existed for as long as personal computers have been around.

Ever since the first computer virus was found in the wild, the idea of shady figures releasing malicious code meant to disable or compromise the world’s computer systems has captured the public imagination.

With this in mind, Internet artist Guo O Dong decided to tackle the challenge of trying to “make physical the abstract threats posed by the digital world.”

A collection of the most destructive viruses

Cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct commissioned the project. Dong’s final artwork is a 10-year-old Samsung NC10 netbook. The netbook is infected with some of the most iconic and destructive viruses in history.

The artwork titled The Persistence of Chaos sold for more than $1.3m at auction. Notably, the six pieces of malware running on the dated netbook have caused collective damages of over $95 billion.

For Dong, The Persistence of Chaos is a reminder that what happens in the digital world has real-life consequences. Dong explained:

“Weaponized viruses that affect power grids or public infrastructure can cause direct harm.”

A wake-up call

As the world enters a new age where wars could be fought from behind keyboards and monitors rather than tanks and fighter planes, it’s about time that we start thinking differently about the distinctions we imagine exist between the real world and the digital one.

Whether Dong’s artwork is the piece to spark that debate remains to be seen. One man’s art is another’s virus-infected antique netbook. Dong confirmed to The Verge that the netbook as ‘safe.’

The netbook is “isolated and airgapped” which basically just means it’s not connected to any networks or to the Internet and shouldn’t pose any danger to the outside world. As long as it stays disconnected and no one finds the need to plug a drive into it.

The netbook contains the following malware

ILOVEYOU

The ILOVEYOU virus is distributed via email and file sharing. It affected more than 500 000 systems and caused $15 billion in damages total, with $5.5 billion in damages being caused within its first week.

MyDoom

MyDoom, allegedly commissioned by Russian e-mail spammers, was one of the fastest spreading worms. The virus caused approximately $38 billion in damages.

SoBig

SoBig was a worm and trojan that circulated through emails as viral spam. It could copy files, email itself to others, and damage computer software/hardware. SoBig caused about $37 billion in damages.

WannaCry

WannaCry was an extremely virulent ransomware cryptoworm that also set up backdoors on systems. It affected more than 200 000 computers across 150 countries, with about $100m in damages to the National Health Service and additional costs of $4 billion.

DarkTequila

A sophisticated and evasive piece of malware that targeted users mainly in Latin America, DarkTequila stole bank credentials and corporate data even while offline. DarkTequila cost millions in damages across many users.

BlackEnergy

BlackEnergy uses sophisticated rootkit/process-injection techniques, robust encryption, and a modular architecture known as a “dropper”. BlackEnergy was used in a cyberattack that prompted a large-scale blackout in Ukraine in 2015.