According to the article at MSNBC, 25 years ago a 9th grader let loose a virus on his friends because they didn't like his practical jokes.  It was the 1st wild boot sector virus and started a whole industry of security watching.  The whole article is worth reading as it discusses the whole business and how it has moved from people wanting to be discovered as the malware was originally designed for notoriety, while now it is more for stealing cash or launching attacks and the writers would rather remain unknown. 

School prank starts 25 years of security woes

First person to ever let loose a personal computer virus was a ninth grader

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Rich Skrenta poses for a portrait in front of his first personal computer, the Apple II Plus, at home in San Carlos, Calif. Skrenta set loose the first computer virus in 1982 — when he was in ninth grade.

NEW YORK - What began as a ninth-grade prank, a way to trick already-suspicious friends who had fallen for his earlier practical jokes, has earned Rich Skrenta notoriety as the first person ever to let loose a personal computer virus.

Although over the next 25 years, Skrenta started the online news business Topix, helped launch a collaborative Web directory now owned by Time Warner Inc.'s Netscape and wrote countless other computer programs, he is still remembered most for unleashing the "Elk Cloner" virus on the world.

"It was some dumb little practical joke," Skrenta, now 40, said in an interview. "I guess if you had to pick between being known for this and not being known for anything, I'd rather be known for this. But it's an odd placeholder for (all that) I've done."

School prank starts 25 years of security woes - Security - MSNBC.com

ttfn

David