Interview with Cyclone
Interviewer: T-2000
Tell us a bit about yourself, hobbies, music, etc.
I'd rather not. One of the great beauties of cyberspace is the ability to remain anonymous.
Besides, do you REALLY care what kind of music I listen to? If you will
gain new and wondrous insight into your own existence then I have no problems in telling you, but if it's all the same, I'll just be John Doe the second.
How did you get your handle? Is there a specific meaning behind it?
The handle is so old it's not funny. It goes back to the day when I first
logged into a BBS and was asked for a login name. Being much younger this is what I chose - I doubt I'd choose it now.
Be that as it may, the handle stuck, and there's no reason to change now, right?
How and when did you start out with computers?
Well, besides the old Commodore which gave me a taste of programming (never wrote anything great back then), I saw my first PC sometime in high school.
It was then when I started learning programming in earnest - the BASIC background helped.
Which programming languages do you know and which ones do you prefer using?
ASM (32-bit) is, of course, my favourite. For quick programs to get things done, C and Turbo Pascal do the trick
nicely however. I also know a few other languages including a few varieties of Basic, regular
PASCAL, and a number of other assembly languages for other platforms (believe it or not there exist other processors, people!)
How do you layout your source?
That's always more of an after thought. I write source first, then try to clean it up a little.
How and why did you start out with virii?
Hmm... I forget. It was some time ago. Long ago, when I was just learning asm (16bit x86), I got my hands on a some
tutorials for somewhere - I think they were from Nuke. Around that time, I got my hands on most of the 40hex issues, and studied them.
What (virus-)groups are you/have been a member of?
Those that have any reason to know, already do.
Are you active in other scenes, or have you been?
Not really. No.
Are there irl people that know of your vx 'career'?
Very very few... but a few.
What is your view about destructive payloads?
Personally, I don't like them. The wiping out the harddrive thing is pretty pointless, doesn't help the virus
spread and generally can lead to nothing but trouble for anyone who writes it. Besides, the routines tend to be
really buggy due to, I must assume, the authors not testing it rigorously :-) My main objection lies in the fact that these petty ego trips can cause lots
of damage to peoples files. A prank's a prank, but knowing when to draw the line is a good life skill.
What are your favourite e-zines?
Well, 40hex has the most credit for starting me in this hobby, so it's only fair to mention them. Great zines for their time - no question.
Other I enjoyed reading over the years were:
29A, DDT, TI, Codebreakers, *-zine, xine, vlad, VXU, VXtasy, metaphase#2, and
of course, matrix.
What are your favourite viruses and why?
Hybris, Babylonia - love the idea behind them.
Miss Lexotan 8, TMC - Metamorphic. 'nuff said.
Freedom - Jumps across DOS boxes in windows.
Pur'cyst - Survives a 'clean' boot.
There are a number of others, but names elude me at this point. If you (the person reading) ever wrote something new and interesting, consider yourself
listed here too.
What are your favourite AV's and why?
AVP has the best combination of heuristics and updates, which makes it the current best IMHO.
Nothing gives more bang for the buck than f-prot though :-)
Other ones I liked included Dr.Web and TBav (loved all the utilities that came
with it). *sigh* The good old days...
Which persons in the scene do you respect most?
Vecna - Hybris, Babylonia, Miss Lexotan 8. Masterpieces one and all.
Q - I love your ideas.
and a few other people for their coding skill like Griyo, Owl,.. and others.
Which ones do you disrespect most?
Why start petty bickering?
What VX technique are you most interested in?
Two.
Plugins and metamorphism.
Idea of updates is great - hell, if Microsoft does it with their windows viruses...
Metamorphism, if done correctly could also be very powerful.
What do you think about macro/script virii?
*contemptuous look*
The AVs seem to like them...
Do you have any goals VX-wise?
That... is... a... secret! :-)
(Don't you love this air of mystery?)
Is there any way you can be reached?
If you want to catch me, goto undernet's #vir. I'm (Cyclone00) there often enough.
Any plans in the future as a coder and in general?
A few. Busy doing something right now in terms of a few articles and other things (coming soon[tm]).
Any last words/greets?
Greets to all the usual suspects - you know who you are (those of you who ever helped me and those I talk to regularly on #vir).
As for last words.... I hope these are not my last words... I'd have thought of something better to say.