Meet The Persistence of Chaos: The world's most dangerous laptop
What's the story
Can a decade-old laptop running Windows XP cost over a million dollars? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Dubbed as The Persistence of Chaos, this 2008 Samsung laptop is loaded with six pieces of destructive malware that have caused financial damages totaling $95 billion. And the bid for this world's most dangerous laptop is currently live at over $1.2 million. Here's all about it.
Introduction
The Persistence of Chaos: At a glance
Created by internet artist Guo O Dong and commissioned by cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct, The Persistence of Chaos is on offer as a piece of art or for academic reasons. The machine is a 2008 Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-inch laptop, which is running on Windows XP SP3 and packs six of the world's most deadly malware files ever known to mankind.
USP
The laptop comes with malware like WannaCry, DarkEnergy and others
The uniqueness of the laptop is that it is running six pieces of malware - ILOVEYOU, MyDoom, SoBig, WannaCry, Dark Tequila, and BlackEnergy - that have caused financial damages worth $95 billion. Naturally, this makes the laptop illegal for operational purposes, but you can buy it as a piece of art or for educational purposes by outbidding the current claim of $1.2 million.
Ransonware
Meanwhile, here's recalling some of these deadly malware attacks
The ILOVEYOU virus, which distributed via email and file sharing, affected 500,000+ systems and caused damages worth $5.5 billion in the first week ($15 billion in total). Similarly, MyDoom caused $38 billion in damages while SoBig led to a loss of $37 billion. Further, viruses like WannaCry and BlackEnergy infected 200,000+ computers and caused damages worth millions of dollars.
Last call
The bid for The Persistence of Chaos ends soon
If you are impressed by The Persistence of Chaos and have over a million dollars to splurge, you have time till 9AM EST (6:30PM IST) to place the best bid. The laptop, which is currently being kept isolated and air-gapped, will be shipped to you upon the conclusion of this auction. Notably, the computer's internet capabilities and available ports will be functionally disabled.