The ‘Worlds Most Dangerous’ Laptop Goes on Sale!

The Worlds Most Dangerous Laptop

When you consider the term ‘the worlds most dangerous laptop‘, what images come to mind? Perhaps one that contains keys to launch nuclear missiles? Maybe one that is powered by uranium? Nope, keep guessing.

Do you give up? Well, currently available for purchase, the laptop in question (which is incidentally a Samsung netbook) portends to be the most dangerous laptop in the world. Not because of what it can do, but because of what it has. Namely, the 6 most financially damaging virus‘ and malware ever created.

What’s On It?

As per the official website for the sale, the laptop (called the ‘Persistence of Chaos’) contains viruses and malware reported to have cost various industries and individuals a total of $95bn. So what’s on it? Well, the description reads;

• ILOVEYOU – The ILOVEYOU virus, distributed via email and file sharing, affected 500,000+ systems and caused $15B in damages total, with $5.5B in damages being caused in the first week.
• MyDoom – MyDoom, potentially commissioned by Russian e-mail spammers, was one of the fastest spreading worms. It’s projected that this virus caused $38B in damages.
• SoBig – SoBig was a worm and trojan that circulated through emails as viral spam. This piece of malware could copy files, email itself to others, and could damage computer software/hardware. This piece of malware caused $37B in damages and affected hundreds of thousands of PCs.
• WannaCry – WannaCry was an extremely virulent ransomware cryptoworm that also set up backdoors on systems. The attack affected 200,000+ computers across 150 countries, and caused the NHS $100M in damages with further totals accumulating close to $4B.
• 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 costed millions in damages across many users.
• BlackEnergy – BlackEnergy 2 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 December 2015.

Why Would You Buy This?

With a current auction price of over $615,000 (a price which seemingly has a confirmed bidder), the laptop is more being sold primarily as an ‘artistic’ piece. It comes reportedly sealed in a case to ensure that you can’t spread these around the internet. Again, more of a marketing tool than a realistic proposition. Although I do like the concept of it being some kind of ‘doomsday machine’.

So, presuming you have around $620,000 to spare, why not add this to your own PC collection? – Alternatively, you can just pick up a cheap 2nd-hand laptop and pretty much get the same results at home. All you need to do is start looking to download more ram and signing up for ‘official Microsoft warranty extensions’. You will get there sooner or later.

You can check out the official auction page for the laptop via the link here!

What do you think? Are you planning to make a bid on this item? Do you consider this to really be ‘art’? – Let us know in the comments!