Bonzibuddy’s story, Windows camouflaged spyware

If you used a computer in the late 90s or early 2000s, you will surely remember Clippy in Office 97 OA Rover, that animated puppy that appeared in the Windows XP search engine. They were times of sympathetic, colorful, a bit clumsy virtual assistants … and, in general, harmless. But not everyone worked with the same intentions.

In The new episode of ‘Xataka presents’ of our YouTube channel We review the curious case of Bonzibuddythat purple monkey -shaped assistant who promised to help you with everyday tasks as you released jokes and read you Correos. “An alleged virtual assistant in the form of a purple monkey who promised to make your life easier,” tell our classmates.

But after that harmless appearance something quite different was hidden: “steal information and send it to the Bonzi Software database.” And that was only the beginning: deceptive ads, alterations in the system configuration and a payment version that did not solve precisely anything.

“When installing a back door, Bonzi Buddy allowed other malicious programs, such as viruses, will infiltrate the system“, is explained in the video.” In 2014, a YouTuber brought it back in a video where Windows XP destroyed with malicious programs. And suddenly, Bonzi Buddy was famous again, “our teammates point out.

What was Bonzibuddy? What happened to its creators? Why in 2014 did it circulate online thanks to a youtuber that decided to test it in an environment full of malware? It is a story that puts many questions on the table.

And that says a lot about the time, about how we saw technology … and about what Vulnerable that we were when they introduced us something as fun and harmless. If you want to know how far this peculiar assistant came, you have all the details in our video.

Today we have better defenses against malware, since Windows Defender to him Antivirus integrated into macOS, Without forgetting the tools of third parties that work quite effectively. At the time, Bonzibuddy had it much easier to sneak into computers. Its history is still a valid reminder: you never have to lower your guard. Sometimes, malware comes with a smile.

Images | Screen capture

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