Modern malware is sneaky . Different kinds of malware can do anything from tracking keystrokes hoping to get useful information to stealing just a little bit of ad revenue or system resources. Back in the 1990s, however, computer viruses were not nearly as sophisticated . If today’s malware were a criminal, it would be a con artist or even a gentleman thief. Early viruses were more like vandals breaking windows with rocks.
These early viruses were usually flashy and included custom graphics—even their creators’ names—as part of their function. They were all about causing trouble and would often lock down affected systems or delete all the contents of a hard drive. And for the most part , computer hackers did this just for fun. They caused trouble just because they could. It was a unique time in the history of technology, and like many other unique eras, it even has its own museum.
❶ The Malware Museum was established by a cyber security expert named Mikko Hyppönen and a computer historian named Jason Scott. ❷ Hyppönen has collected old viruses for many years. ❸ And even though they are no longer dangerous to most computers, he has deactivated the harmful code and just left the rest of the viruses’ function. ❹ Without any threat of deleting a victim’s hard drive, the viruses are almost like works of art. ❺ Most include graphics or animations, and they act as a reminder of a simpler time on the internet.
The museum exists exclusively online where visitors—who have flocked to the website by the thousands—can see examples of another era of computer culture. And though the viruses were often far more destructive than today’s malware, Hyppönen acknowledges that they were rarely done as part of organized crime but by “happy hackers,” who were pushing the limits of what was possible on the web.
1. How does the author begin the passage?
(A) By telling a fictional story.
(B) By asking readers a question.
(C) By comparing and contrasting.
(D) By using an attention-grabbing quote.
2. The sentences in paragraph 3 are numbered ❶ to ❺ . Write down the NUMBER of the sentence that best indicates how the Malware Museum protects computers from getting infected.
