As seen on the 'The Persistence of Chaos', the laptop which is up for auction as a piece of art, is nothing out of the ordinary but a simple Samsung NC 10-14 10.2-inch 2018 which runs on Windows XP (Service Pack 3).
The laptop is loaded with six of the world most destructive malware which have caused nearly $100 billion in damages on the Internet worldwide. The malware includes SoBig (which is both a worm and troajn), ILOVEYOU (virus), MyDoom (worm), DarkTequila (malware), WannaCry (ransomware cryptoworm), and BlackEnergy.
Here's a brief about the malwares and damages caused as shown on The Persistence of Chaos website.
ILOVEYOU:
The ILOVEYOU virus, distributed via email and file sharing, affected 500,000+ systems and caused $15B in damages total, with $5.5B in damages being caused in the first week.
MyDoom:
MyDoom, potentially commissioned by Russian e-mail spammers, was one of the fastest spreading worms. It's projected that virus caused $38B in damages.
SoBig:
SoBig was a worm and trojan that circulated through emails as viral spam. This piece of malware would copy files, email itself to others, and could damage computer software/hardware. This piece of malware caused $37B in damges and affected hundreds of thousands of PCs.
WannaCry:
WannaCry was an extremely virulent ransomware cryptoworm that also set up backdoors on systems. The attack affected 200,00+ computers across 150 countries, and caused the NHS $100M in damages with further totals accumulating close to $4B.
DarkTequila:
A sophisticated and evasive piece of malware that targeted users mainly in Latin America, DarkTequila stole bank credentials and corporate data even while offline. DarkTequila costed millions in damages across many users.
BlackEnergy:
BlackEnergy 2 uses sophisticated rootkit/process-injection techniques, robust encryption, and a modular archtecture known as a "dropper". BlackEnergy was used in cyberattack that prompted a large-scale blackout in Ukraine in December 2015
The project was created by artist Guo O Dong and has been commissioned by cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct. The auction for the laptop is on and the bidding has crossed $1.2 million in private auction.
The official listing page for the project says the auction is only meant for 'academic reasons' as the sale of malware for operational purposes still remains illegal.
Deep Instincts says the laptop is being kept air-gapped, probably, to keep it isolated and prevent the viruses from spreading or escaping the system.