1982: The first computer virus in the wild infects Apple II computers.
1988: Cornell University student Robert Morris releases a "worm" program onto the Internet that infects 6 000 host computers - 10% of all Internet hosts - and cripples the Net for days.
1989: Hurricane Hugo and the San Francisco earthquake lead to hundreds of hours of downtime for businesses in the affected areas.
1992: Flooding of underground tunnels in Chicago and Hurricane Andrew lead to millions of dollars in lost revenue. A large number of companies lost computing capability due to the hurricane and many had to relocate to recovery centres in order to continue business operations. The hurricane took its toll on business - despite disaster recovery plans that were implemented - due to personnel problems. Thirty-three disaster declarations were made.
1993: The bombing of New York's World Trade Centre affects all business-critical IT in the downtown Manhattan area, leading to hours of downtime.
1994: An earthquake in Los Angeles threatens all IT systems in the area.
1998: A massive ice storm strikes a relatively narrow swath of land from Eastern Ontario to southern Quebec and Nova Scotia in Canada, and bordering areas from northern New York to southeast Maine in the US, causing massive damage to trees and electrical infrastructure all over the area, leading to widespread long-term power outages. Businesses suffered downtime for periods varying from days to weeks.
2000: The first denial-of-service attacks cripple Web servers.
2001: The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks result in the collapse of both buildings of the World Trade Centre and irreparable damage to nearby buildings. In total, in Manhattan, 25 buildings are damaged and all seven buildings of the World Trade Centre Complex have to be razed. The Federal Reserve temporarily had reduced contact with banks because of outages of switching equipment in the lower NY financial district. Contact and control over the money supply, including immediate liquidity for banks, was restored within hours. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq did not open and remained closed until 17 September. NYSE facilities and remote data processing sites were not damaged by the attack, but member firms, customers and markets were unable to communicate due to major damage to the telephone exchange facility near the World Trade Centre.
2001: Floods in Mozambique cause countrywide devastation.
2002: Torrential rains and flooding wreak havoc across central and Western Europe. In Czech Republic, thousands of people are evacuated from Prague as floodwaters deluged the city centre, and Salzburg, Austria, is declared a disaster zone, with 1 000 buildings partially or totally submerged.
2003: Charley, a category two hurricane, causes damage exceeding $1 billion in Cuba and $7.4 million in the US. Electricity remains out for more than 350 000 customers up to five days after the storm.
2003: At least 26 people are killed and 400 wounded when two trucks blow up in Istanbul, Turkey. One truck explodes outside the British consulate, and the other at the British bank HSBC.
2003: A storm system, named Dujuan, sweeps through Taiwan and then southern China with gale force winds, destroying houses, trees, crops, and the electric and telecommunications infrastructure.
2003: Hurricane Fabian slams Bermuda for four hours, bringing down trees and power lines.
2003: Typhoon Maemi hits South Korea, disrupting electrical power and communications systems.
2003: A power blackout throughout Italy leaves more than 55 million people in the dark, some for up to 18 hours.
2003: Hurricane Juan makes landfall in Canada near Halifax and storms across Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island, heavily damaging property, causing power outages that last more than two weeks in some areas. Damages estimated at $100 million.
2003: The largest power blackout in US and North American history sweeps across Ohio, Michigan, and Canada and then spreads to Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, leaving 50 million without electricity for 24 hours and longer. Billions of dollars in revenue are lost.
2004: Hurricane Jeanne affects the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Bahamas and Florida, with flooding and damage in other eastern US states. The entire power grid of Puerto Rico is shut down by the government as the storm approaches to prevent electrocutions and infrastructure damage. This power outage has been credited with causing over $100 million in damage. Millions in Florida are also left without electricity. The final US damage was determined to be around $6 900 000 000, making it the 13th costliest hurricane in US history.
2005: Hurricane Katrina causes devastation along much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the US. Nearly every levee in metro New Orleans breaches as Hurricane Katrina passes east of the city, subsequently flooding 80% of the city and many areas of neighbouring parishes for weeks. The hurricane leaves an estimated three million people without electricity and the total damage from Katrina is over $80 billion.
2005: Torrential rain brings landslides and floods to El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate.
2005: A 7.6 earthquake centred in the Pakistani-controlled part of the Kashmir region destroys about half of the region's capital city, Muzaffarabad, while other towns and villages are flattened.
2005: Days of heavy rains in Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania and Switzerland inundate rivers and lakes and flood cities and towns.
2006: Tornadoes and strong storms sweep eight US states, destroying buildings.
2006: Heavy rains and winds knock out power to 1.5 million residents in Washington and Oregon.
2006: A deadly tornado in Japan, where tornadoes are rare, knock out power, leaving businesses in the lurch.
2006: Tropical storm Bilis in China floods three Chinese provinces, causing millions to be evacuated.
2006: In the warmest summer on record, heat waves and blackouts in the US contribute to business disaster. Storms with heavy winds knock out power to more than 600 000 buildings in Missouri, leaving many without electricity. In the Queens borough of New York City, buildings are without electricity for up to nine days.
2007: A winter storm with heavy sleet, ice and snow moves across nine US states, from Texas to Maine, resulting in extensive power outages and causing downtime across the entire area.
Compiled by Mia Andric. Sources: The History and Development of the Internet: a Timeline, Rhonda Davila. A Brief History of the Internet, Barry M Leiner, Vinton G Cerf, David D Clark, Robert E Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel C Lynch, Jon Postel, Larry G Roberts, Stephen Wolff. Wikipedia. Keith Lynch's timeline of Net-related terms and concepts. A Computer Geek's History of the Internet. Hobbes' Internet Timeline. Ezine. Wikipedia. Disaster Recovery World. Business Continuity SA. Information Please.
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