25 Years After the ILOVEYOU Virus, the Real Threat Still Isn’t Code — It’s Curiosity

Back in May 2000, inboxes around the world were buzzing with a curious email titled “kindly check the attached LOVELETTER coming from me!” It sounded innocent, even sweet. But when people clicked the attachment, they unknowingly unleashed one of the most destructive computer worms the world had ever seen.

Within days, the now-infamous ILOVEYOU virus had infected millions of Windows machines worldwide. Big names like the Pentagon and the UK Parliament weren’t spared. Damages soared into the billions. And the world got a brutal wake-up call about how dangerous the internet could be.

A College Student With a Clever Hack

What’s truly fascinating is that this massive digital chaos started with a 23-year-old Filipino college student, Onel de Guzman, from AMA Computer College in Makati. As someone who also studied at AMA (I studied BS Computer Engineering at AMA Computer University), this story hits close to home. Onel wasn’t some high-level hacker trying to bring down governments. He was just a struggling student, trying to figure out how to stay connected to the internet without paying for it, because, yes, back then we were still dealing with dial-up.

His goal was simple: steal passwords for internet access. But the execution? That was surprisingly brilliant.

Onel wrote a script that could swipe passwords. Then, he needed a way to get it onto as many computers as possible. That’s when he thought of disguising his code as a love letter, tapping into emotions and curiosity. The file looked like a harmless .TXT file, but it was actually a Visual Basic script cleverly named LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs. Since Windows hid file extensions by default, users had no idea they were opening a worm.

What the Virus Actually Did

Once opened, the script copied itself across the system, sent copies to everyone in the victim’s address book, and replaced certain files like images, music, and documents with more copies of the virus. It even sent stolen passwords back to email addresses controlled by Onel.

This digital love note spread like wildfire, not because it was technically sophisticated, but because it played on a simple human weakness, curiosity.

Why Cybersecurity Still Matters

Even though this happened 25 years ago, the lessons are still painfully relevant. The ILOVEYOU worm wasn’t a super virus. It didn’t need to be. It exploited the human factor, the tendency to trust, to click without thinking, to act on emotion.

The tools used by cybercriminals today might be more advanced, but their main weapon hasn’t changed. It's still us. Social engineering, phishing, and scams rely on people letting their guard down, not just technical flaws.

That’s why your bank keeps warning you not to click strange links or give away your OTPs. It’s not paranoia, it’s prevention.

Even cybersecurity pros get caught off guard. Just recently, Troy Hunt, the guy behind Have I Been Pwned?, got tricked by a phishing email. If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

Protecting Yourself in 2025

The smartest defense? Awareness. Knowing the tricks and recognizing the red flags is your first line of protection. Of course, you should also have backups, use strong passwords, and stay updated with basic cybersecurity habits.

But more than anything, don’t let curiosity click before caution kicks in. That’s the one lesson the ILOVEYOU worm still teaches us today.