10.10.10

Talking in class about security issues of IT systems, this week brought up an interesting discussion about the 10.10.10 virus. Reminded me a little of the "Bug 2000" we were all afraid of ten years ago. The date has set off alarm bells with some superstitious people on the internet who fear it could cause their computer's clocks to jam, or for a new virus to be let loose. A Facebook page has been set up with the title "Will my computer still work on 10/10/10 at 10.10am?", while other sites talk about the possibility of hackers unleashing viruses at that time.

Computer security firm Sophos has shot down rumors: "It's just the kind of scare that people love to murmur about, and share with their online friends, but I'm afraid it has no basis in fact," Sophos' Graham Cluley wrote in a blog post. "The reason why the 10th October has received attention is because of the cute quirk of the numbers reading 10/10/10," he said. "But even that's not a new idea. For instance, in the run-up to March 3 2003, I had to debunk rumors that the Internet would stop working at 03/03/03".

This date was a reason for a big fuss around the world and for many major creative events to take place– weddings, births… a few examples I found online: Brazil held a big festival in Belem, Australia made a mass picnic event (6000 people!!) on a bridge in Sydney, as part of the campaign for the 2022 World Cup Games, in Windsor, Canada was a big boat race event and many more.  

Reference: http://www.telegraph.co.uk