ILOVEYOU
computer worm
ILOVEYOU, sometimes referred to as the Love Bug or Loveletter, was a computer worm that infected tens of millions of Windows computers following its release on 4 May 2000. The worm was mainly distributed through email attachments sent to contacts on an infected system's address book, and is an example of malware using social engineering to aid its spread. Once run, the worm overwrites files with its source code and attempts to spread to other computers.
The worm was created by Onel de Guzman, a dropout of AMA Computer College in the Philippines, because of his belief that internet access was a human right; the worm attempts to download a computer trojan that steals dial-up Internet access credentials to fulfill this aim. Philippine prosecutors ultimately dropped all charges against de Guzman because of a lack of laws against hacking in the country. In response, President Joseph Estrada signed an e-commerce law to cover against similar activity.
Affecting an estimated 10% of internet-connected computers at the time, the ILOVEYOU worm is considered to be one of the most virulent examples in the history of malware. The worm caused approximately US$10 billion worth of damages to numerous government agencies and corporations. It has inspired several creative works, including art installations, songs and films.
Background
The ILOVEYOU worm was coded by Onel de Guzman, a former student at AMA Computer College in the Philippines.
“ILOVEYOU” enters the record as computer worm. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what ILOVEYOU, computer and worm can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“ILOVEYOU” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, ILOVEYOU, computer and worm provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q856096. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2000.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “ILOVEYOU” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.