Laptop infested with six of world's most virulent computer viruses sells as piece of art for £1m

A laptop loaded with some of the world's most crippling viruses has sold for more than £1 million as a work of art at auction.

The Persistence of Chaos is running six well-known pieces of malware, including WannaCry which brought down parts of the NHS in May 2017, disrupting 80 trusts across England alone.

The old Windows XP machine is isolated and airgapped with internet capabilities and available ports disabled to prevent the malware from being spread.

It was created by internet artist Guo O Dong in collaboration with cybersecurity company Deep Instinct to make the artwork safe.

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All six viruses are believed to have caused financial damages in the region of $95 billion (£74.4 billion).

Other viruses include ILOVEYOU which hit PCs in 2000, and is thought to have affected more than 500,000 systems via email and file sharing services.

MyDoom, a computer worm dating back to 2004 is also on the machine, as well as SoBig, DarkTequila and BlackEnergy.

Guo told The Verge that the work is intended to give abstract threats a physical meaning, serving as "a kind of bestiary - a catalogue of historical threats".

The online auction closed with a final bid of $1.3 million (£1 million).