2000 World Events · Post-Cold War transition and asymmetric shock
ILOVEYOU computer worm spreads globally
A malicious email attachment known as ILOVEYOU spread through address books and disrupted businesses and governments worldwide.
Evidence-led reading
What is stated, why it matters, and what remains uncertain
What this is
A specific-event record selected from the protected World Events source ledger for cross-year research. It is not an exhaustive account of 2000.
Why it matters
It showed how social engineering and networked systems could create global cyber damage quickly.
What is established here
The page faithfully exposes the submitted record and its source boundary. No claim-level evidence packet has yet upgraded the record beyond a research starting point.
What remains uncertain
Starting-point source from the submitted dataset; verify exact dates, attribution, legal posture, casualty figures, and current status before reuse.
Record narrative
Source-bounded summary
A malicious email attachment known as ILOVEYOU spread through address books and disrupted businesses and governments worldwide.
It showed how social engineering and networked systems could create global cyber damage quickly.
Structured fields
Record at a glance
- Stable record ID
- 2000-004
- Date or period
- 2000-05-04
- Type
- Cyber incident
- Focus
- Cyber / espionage
- Impact scope
- Global
- Priority
- 4 of 5
- Location label
- Manila / South China Sea, Philippines
- Coordinate precision
- Regional-hub coordinate
- Actors named by the source record
- Malware author(s); global email users; corporations
- Verification state
- source-start-point; sensitive details require independent verification
Geographic context
A coordinate locator, not a surveyed event footprint
The submitted record supplies 14.5995, 120.9842 with the precision label “Regional-hub coordinate.” Multi-location events, disputed borders, campaigns, and broad regions cannot be reduced to one point.
Review location and coordinate boundariesSource and verification boundary
This remains a starting-point record
Starting-point source from the submitted dataset; verify exact dates, attribution, legal posture, casualty figures, and current status before reuse.
Citation and correction
Use the stable record ID and challenge individual propositions
A correction may concern the date, place, actors, attribution, legal status, figures, coordinate precision, source characterization, or why-pivotal summary without invalidating every other field.
2IA — International Intelligence Archive. “ILOVEYOU computer worm spreads globally.” World Events record 2000-004. Reviewed July 27, 2026. https://2ix.org/world-events/2000/2000-004/