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