In a blog post, security outfit Sophos breaks down how the virus worked, explaining the payload was contained in a Visual Basic Script file disguised as a benign text file. Regardless, it hit major corporations like Ford and government agencies around the globe. Finding a breakdown why exactly it was so financially disruptive is hard to come by, but is presumably related to the costs of removing the virus, restoring impacted files and system, and associated downtime to deal with the mess, as well as strengthening security in general. Some estimates have the financial impact being even higher. According to CNN, at its height ILOVEYOU was on pace to cause $10 billion in damages.
The wider net turned out to be troublesome, and costly.
Guzman says he couldn't afford internet access at the time, so he started out by targeting login information from users in his area before casting a wider net. As he explains it, ILOVEYOU was based on that previous virus he wrote, but with the added ability to send itself to a person's Outlook contacts. Guzman claims he wrote an earlier virus with the intent of stealing dial-up internet passwords. His name is Onel de Guzman, and he's now 44 years old. Geoff White, a writer for BBC News, says he tracked the culprit down at a mobile phone repair shop in Manila. According to the creator of the virus, also known as the 'Love Bug,' he never intended for it to cause as much damage as it did.
