Interview with Toro


Interviewer: T-2000


Tell us a bit about yourself, hobbies, music, etc.

I'm a boy (hehe :) I'm 16 and live in Norway
I love coding, gamez, porn, music and all forms for science and math (geek :)
I usually spend most of my time with puter, skewl and thinking

i like diffrent genre of music; metal, rock, classic, u name it.
favorite groups are of coz The Offspring and Metallica

How did you get your handle? Is there a specific meaning behind it?

 My friends started teasing me with Toro after a comercial for Toro products. Back then, it was pretty lame, but now i really like it :) i'm horney like a bull XD

How and when did you start out with computers?

 I started out with puters at my dad work and at my neighboors. It was back in 93-94 i guess. XD
i've lived with DOS from then, since a virii killed the puter so i had to use boot disk :)

Which programming languages do you know and which ones do you prefer using?

 i know asm, (win32asm as well), batch, VB (and QB, but who cares?), and a few web languages. (and a few more not important ones :) I definitly prefer using asm, vb and batch (and ofcoz win32asm), mostly becoz
these languages serves me diffrent opportunities. who write their dos commands shortcuts in asm?

How do you layout your source?

 strictly and clearly. i hate nothing more than a not commented source with bad layout. ;)

How and why did you start out with virii?

 i started out with virii when i didn't have any more programs to write :) it must have been around '95 i guess. maybe before win 95 as well. XD i just read the instruction manual (it was help.com), experimented a little bit and viola, a overwriting destructiv batch virii which formats the puter in first run. haha :)

i got the idea to write virii after all the cool viriis on my puter (NoInt, Cascade, and several unnamed) i used to read MSAV and Norman descriptions as well

What (virus-)groups are you/have been a member of?

 i'm a member of Red Elephant now, very inactive i guess. we rarly talkes to each other! so i'm really induvidual :) and i've been a member of the local chess club but that is another story ;)

Are you active in other scenes, or have you been?

 i'm active in cracking scene as well, mostly cracking progz for my own use (lame serial protections...). the funny thing is that i started out with cracking before i knew more than 3-4 asm instruction. LOL :)

Are there irl people that know of your vx 'career'?

 unfortunally yes. my family, friends, old school mates, new school mates, and some other guys. i think it is too many, but, you know... fame ;)

Which virii have you written and which ones do you like most?

 i've written several virii. some batch, dos, and win. some tricky ones, some "learning", other just to check out new techz. two viriis are never the same. i am really proud of two of them: win32.Pretender and BAT.*not named yet* :) both is very...rare and have funny techs XD

Have you ever released any of them in the wild? If so, how?

 when lame IRC users asks me for whatever proggie i have written i usually send them a virii :) the buisness ain't going any good now becoz my DCC is fucked up :/ i might have infected one maybe two IRC users. lol :)

Were they destructive?

 not those i released. but some old viriis i've made are :)

Are any of your virii in the wild?

 dunno. don't think so :)

What is your view about destructive payloads?

 when people ask me if i can learn them how to write a destructiv virii i get angry. those motherfuckers should know what they are dealing with, but i don't have much against suchs payloads. it is the users
responsibility :-) i stopped making such payloads becoz i didn't want to get into trouble (ops, another doubleclick! and such happen here too. hi GriYo! :)

How do you name your virii?

 often what falls into my head, but sometimes after what the virii do. or if i think the virii is way to l33t,
i give it a cool name :) i think X-Files is a pretty cool name. hehe :)

What are your favourite e-zines?

 those i get much out of. like VLAD :) (love the secret area viriis. XD

What are your favourite viruses and why?

 i like some of the old viriis, mostly becoz they've been writting by authors i think are l33t

What are your favourite AV's and why?

 fucking nagz and money suckers :)

Which persons in the scene do you respect most?

 i respect almost everybody, with very few exceptions.

Which ones do you disrespect most?

 l4m3 n3wb1z th4t d0n't kn0w 4 sh1t XD

What VX technique are you most interested in?

 compression is kinda cool, but encryption is funny as well. besides that, i always pay much attension to the current function i'm writing. i'm also intrested in polymorphism for batch. neat :)

What do you think about macro/script virii?

 i'm don't think we need more vbs kiddies...

Do you have any goals VX-wise?

.....? :)

Is there any way you can be reached?

 ofcoz. always by mail: mail2toro@yahoo.com but don't expect an answer quickly :) or you can always find me in #vir, #virus, #win32asm on undernet. check out my homepage as well: www.shadowvx.com/toro

Any plans in the future as a coder and in general?

 working on another compression algorithm... *secret*

Any last words/greets?

 greetz to all!