How the First Computer Virus Was Accidentally Created

This story explores the real origins of the first computer virus, tracing back to Bob Thomas, an engineer and programmer working at BBN Technologies in the early nineteen seventies. Long before modern cybersecurity, Thomas created an experimental self-replicating program known as Creeper, designed to test how software could move across networked computers. This video explains the scientific, technical, and historical context behind that experiment, how it worked, why it was never meant to be malicious, and how it unintentionally laid the foundation for both computer viruses and antivirus systems. Through the work of Bob Thomas and the researchers who followed, we uncover how an innocent engineering test reshaped the future of digital security.