The cascade virus was a type of computer virus that had the effect of wiping all data on a computer system.

The devastating effect of this type of computer virus was demonstrated in 2373, when the former Starfleet officer Michael Eddington used a virus he had planted before he joined the Maquis to disable the USS Defiant. With the computer's memory erased, the Defiant was completely disabled and had to be towed back to Deep Space 9 by the USS Malinche. He had also placed several similar viruses on Deep Space 9, but Constable Odo managed to remove them. (DS9: "For the Uniform")