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40Hex Issue 09 File 001
40Hex Number 9 Volume 2 Issue 5 File 001
40-Hex Editorial:
VX: What the Hell's happened?
by DecimatoR
Please note, the opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of all
the Phalcon/Skism members, and this article was not intentionally directed
towards one group or individual in particular.
1991: The virus scene was almost nonexistent. A handful of virus
boards populated the earth, the biggest being the Virus Exchange in
Bulgaria. In the US, only a very few boards had viruses.. and those which
did ALL had less than 100. If you had 80 viruses back then, you were God.
Today, just one year later, if you have less than 800 you're LAME. Viruses
are everywhere. Unfortunately, almost NONE of them are original. They're
all hacks of hacks of hacks of hacks, or else all cranked out by MPC or VCL,
the 2 virus generation programs in mass distribution. No one (save a few)
writes original code anymore. The recent flood of lame viruses all prove
that. MPC and VCL account for over half of the "new" viruses released each
day - and ALL the viruses generated by those programs are scannable before
they even get compiled. So why do people keep using the programs? Why
create 30 viruses which all do the same thing, except maybe on a different
day, or using a different text string? Why? I'll tell you why. Because
the kids using MPC and VCL are basically talentless programmers who think
it's cool to stick their name in a program and pass it around. They believe
they'll achieve god-like fame in the underground by creating these little
clones and changing a few bytes. Are these people cool? Hardly. It takes
true talent to create a virus. It takes brains and skill to write a virus
which will work as planned, avoid detection, and propagate itself. The
authors of MPC and VCL are very talented programmers. Unfortunately, the
users of their programs are just the opposite. REAL virus programmers have
a desire to LEARN assembler - it's a test of their skill and ability. The
users of MPC and VCL don't have that desire. They only have a desire for
recognition - and seeing their name in a virus is a massive ego trip for
them. Why? They did nothing that any Joe Blow couldn't have done using a
code generator. If they REALLY want to prove how cool they are, let THEM
write a damn virus generation program and release it. THAT ALONE will show
the world their skill and ability. As for USING the program, well, I'm more
impressed with a nicely formatted term paper using WordPerfect than I am
with viruses created using MPC and VCL. If you're one of the lame idiots
who uses MPC or VCL for "writing" viruses, then listen up - those programs
were written for 2 reasons - to prove the programmer could write such a
thing, and to be used as a LEARNING TOOL for future virus writers - NOT to
be abused the way they currently are. Stop acting lame and actually CREATE
an ORIGINAL virus for once, people! And if you find that's impossible, then
get the hell out of the scene and let the people who CAN program do it!
Enough on that end. Now it's time to bitch about the virus boards.
These so called "elite" boards that have 1,255,443,453.7 viruses online for
anyone to call up and leech. These places where the little kiddies put
thier newest MPC and VCL creation for all the other little kiddies, to show
how /<-RaD they are. And as soon as one virus is put up, 300 people grab
it, half of them send it off to other VX boards, and half ship it to the
Anti-Virus boards. What's the purpose? The virus scene has become the same
as the WAREZ SCENE! Or, as Garbageheap puts it - Micro-Warez.
Micro-WareZ: n. Viruses created by talentless individuals and passed
around the way pirated software is.
ie: "Hey D00dZ I got the newest MiCroWareZ from that
BBS in 404!!! Now I'm up to 1,231,902!!!#!$@$~!"
Micro-Warez Pups: n. (pl) 1) Those individuals actively engaging in the
collection, creation, and distribution of Micro-Warez.
2) People who collect viruses simply because they
want to have more than anyone else.
See also: LAMERS
What's the point in these MicroWareZ (also known as VX) boards? All the
virus "authors" (I hate using that term - REAL virus authors don't frequent
microwarez boards) anyway -all the virus authors send up their newest lame
little hacks, and in 15 minutes they're on all VX boards everywhere. In 20
minutes, the AV people are looking at them. In 23 minutes the AV people
have determined that the new Ware is just a lame little hack, and is already
scannable by all virus scanners available. In 23.2 minutes, the AV people
have deleted the virus, and are back drinking coffee and chatting on the
COMP.VIRUS Usenet echo, saying things like "Just found another lame little
hack. Nothing to worry about guys, not like this is anything new or
ingenious or something. My scanner catches it since July of 91."
My point here is - WHAT THE HELL IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS? AV people
no longer have to wait for some unlucky infected soul to send them a copy of
a new virus. They simply call up the local VX board and download it before
ANYONE gets infected. Again I ask you - WHAT IS THE @*#$!%& PURPOSE? It's
not cool, it's not elite, its FUKKING STUPID! Pardon the french. The
so-called Virus underground is no longer underground. It's as open as
the ANTI-VIRUS scene is. Anyone can get anything they want, because NO ONE
cares! Everyone's got them, and anyone who wants them can find them. The
virus scene is no longer elite. It's lamer then the warez scene is. And
it's a shame. It once required talent and skill. Now it requires the
intelligence of a grapefruit... well... not even that much.
So the question remains - "Gee DecimatoR, if you're so against all
this virus stuff, then what the hell are you doing in P/S? Why do you run a
virus board?"
My answer: I have a desire to LEARN, and MY board is private. The
number was changed, all users deleted, and only those with an interest in
LEARNING will be allowed on. Yes, I still have all the damn viruses. Cause
when the Gestapo decides it's time to make the creation, distribution, and
possession of viruses illegal, I wanna be sure people will be able to find
them somewhere. I don't cater to microwarez pups, and I'm about as
interested in the newest VCL creation as I am in the color of your undies.
Viruses illegal? Yes, I'm sure they someday will be. Unfortunately.
Because when the Gestapo makes them illegal, it's taking away the rights of
ALL Americans to freely create and use programs. And that's the beginning
of the end of Democracy and American Freedom. Anyway, that's enough bitching
for one day. If I've pissed you off, good. You're probably one of the
lamers I was writing about. If I haven't, well... next time then.
Till 40-Hex 10.....
> Peace <
--DecimatoR
