In December 1989, an evolutionary biologist named Dr. Joseph Popp sent out a floppy disk to around 20,000 people, marking the beginning of what would become the first known ransomware virus in history. The recipients of this disk were attendees at a World Health Organization conference in Stockholm, Sweden. Upon inserting the disk into their computers, they were greeted with a message demanding $189 be sent to a PO Box in Panama.
Read more