Introduction
ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ

  Here we are punctual to our own meeting, as we promised in the last issue.

  This time the quantity, as we told, is minor, but the quality is  the same
if not more. Probably 29A #8 is, along with 29A #3, the most technical virus
magazine that any virus group released ever.

  We are proud to present the first virus ever infecting Win64 platform, and
also a Win32/Win64 cross-infector. Also we are presenting in this  issue the
first virus infecting PDAs and the first virus infecting cell phones too!

  Awesome! Our members have been working hard to bring all this new stuff.

  What will be next? A virus infecting a coffee pot...? Maybe, everything is
possible in this digital era where almost anything is computerized.

  29A pretends to be an investigator group that shows publicly security bugs
for different platforms. Authorities of countries  should  thank  instead of
prosecute, that a bunch of people spend hours of their time to find and show
weakness and vulnerabilities in order to be prevented and solved. It is much
better a  known vulnerability by everybody that an unknown one that could be
used by someone with malicious intentions.

  With this I mean that the intents to get down  virus writers just  because
they  show  the  incompetence/imprudence of  some  companies  should   stop.
Spending  time and efforts  to prosecute only the people that take advantage
of these problems in their own beneffit would be much more worth.

  Is  pointless getting in jail  to someone that  only tried  to  show  that
computers and other peripherals are insecure? Seems so.

  Even more, many times a virus writer  is someone that makes for  hobby the
job that a technician of a company should have done for money.

  A technician is paid for discovering holes/bugs in a system, meanwhile the
virus writer is criminalized for doing the very same thing. Why is different
the technician of the virus writer? Just because the  technician gets money?
Because the virus writer makes public his discoveries?

  Spreading is other question and much more serious nowadays than years ago.

  Just this year several members of vx scene (Gigabyte or Whale for example)
got  in troubles  with police of  their countries for  spreading their code.
Even Benny that did not spread anything got in troubles.

  So, spreading yes or spreading no? The answer seems quite obvious. The fun
is in the creation and the problems in the spreading.

  What is the future of 29A after so many members got out?

  Our intention is to continue releasing a  new issue every 1st january. For
this, the work of 29A members and contributors is essential, as usual.

  We will try to continue bringing the same quality and  as many quantity as
possible, but this last  thing is difficult because vx scene is almost dead.
Sometimes seems like 29A *is* the vx scene.

  We have been waiting for years for new virus writers that come  to replace
the holes  that  people like Jacky Qwerty, SSR  and other cool virus writers
left when they retired. Sadly, most holes are still there to be covered.

  And not only the holes of  illustrious virus writers are still empty, also
groups like VLAD, Immortal Riot, IKX or Matrix are being missed actually.

  29A will continue accepting new members, so if YOU consider you are a good
candidate for joining our group do not hesitate to contact us. Send us a few
lines talking about yourself and the best stuff you coded.


                                                           VirusBuster/29A
                                                            December 2004