Michelangelo
aka March 6
- discovered
- 1991-04
- origin
- Australia
- reported by
- Roger Riordan
- author
- unknown
- family
- Stoned
- size
- 512 bytes
- platform
- DOS boot sector
- vector
- Floppy and hard disk boot sectors
- payload
- boot sector, destructive
- trigger
- March 6, the artist's birthday
Payload
On March 6 of any year, overwrites the first 256 sectors of the hard drive with garbage from memory, destroying the partition table and any data within reach.
~ writeup coming soon ~
Related specimens
Sources
- Internet Archive Malware Museum: Michelangelo :: Mikko Hypponen, Internet Archive Malware Museum
- Virus Bulletin, March 1992 issue :: Virus Bulletin, March 1992, Michelangelo coverage and panic
last updated: 2026-04-12 :: curated by the_curator