As cyber crime and malware intrusion becomes commonplace within IT estates worldwide, the art world this month has welcomed the latest installation (forgive the pun) artwork entitled “Persistence of Chaos” which sold for $1.3 million in auction.

The ‘artwork’ is in fact an 11-year-old Samsung notebook which has been infected by several infamous malware viruses – from ILOVEYOU to WannaCry – and is the artistic brain child of Guo O. Dong who worked with Cyber Security specialists Deep Instinct in the creation of this project.

The laptop, by law, will have its connection ports “functionally disabled” which will mean its network connection ports, USB ports and Wi-Fi function will be removed prior to completion of sale.

The viruses that are inside this laptop have caused global cyber security catastrophes – from the ILOVEYOU virus that affected computers from the Houses of Parliament to Microsoft. WannaCry which brought down the NHS and cost tens of millions to rectify.