1) Please introduce yourself a bit

Hello. I'm alcopaul. I'm an ex-member of Ready Rangers Liberation Front [rRlf] and current member of Brigada Ocho [b8]. I contributed some of my stuffs
to rRlf, Black Cat Virus Group, 29a, PetikVX, Doomriderz, Brigada Ocho, and DarK-CodeZ ezines. Now, I consider myself as perrenial vxer coz I only code
during certain seasons or mood swings. You might know me from my creations called Perrun and Sand.12300. I also wrote under the aliases of
illawesome(ebcvg zines) and linuspauling(doomriderz).

2) What are you up to lately?

My current activities are music, gaming and religion. I make my own acoustic based songs and publish them on the net, play Guild Wars, Diablo 3
and Guild Wars 2 and read religious texts/compose poems/prayers. Plus my weekly job occupies my time too. I take care of an elderly. So coding is
not a priority but recently, I started to have an interest on source code infection on certain languages and server side polymorphism so I went back
into coding again to investigate about them. Also I love reading tweets from people in the scene and the security scene too.

3) What is your opinion on the vxheaven raid? Who do you think is responsible for this?

I was devastated when VXheavens closed and I shared the sentiments of those who were sympathetic to the site and herm1t. About its closing, people had
theories but I think that the reason is when herm1t started posting Virus Bulletin issues that are current and only can be gotten with subscription and leaked
AV source codes. We all know that VirusBulletin is a conglomerate of AVers and when you mess with their cash cow, things will start to get messy. And it was
easy for them to do the next step because VXHeavens was an easy target. I was an active VXheavens forum user so i witnessed these events. This is my
opinion and I could be wrong but I'm inclined to believe that this was the reason.

4) What could be done to prevent such a raid?

I don't know if the VXheavens raid was preventable because anytime, anyone from the security scene can cry "Wolf!" and report VXheavens to authorities.
Laws regarding computer misuse are already up since the early 2K or even earlier. I just think that herm1t made an enemy in the form of VirusBulletin
and it just started to make its teeth shown because their issues were being pirated and legit AV source codes were being posted in the VXheavens forum.
Who could convince the government of Ukraine that VX heavens is causing trouble? It cannot be just from a random tip. It cannot be just because VXheavens is
hosting supposedly "dangerous" stuffs. Or it cannot be that some person from Timbuktu tipped the government of Ukraine because a virus hosted in VXheavens
infected his computer. It must be from those guys with credentials and resume telling that VXheavens is messing up with their business. They're the ones who
are taken seriously and given much attention, and that is Virus Bulletin (AVers). It has to be them.

5) I read your blog and found this weird text where someone rants about the vx scene. How did you find this text and who do you think wrote it?

SPTH sent the link to me and at first I found it as a joke. Then I realize that it was something that can't be shrugged off immediately since it bad
mouthed herm1t, who dealt with the hassle of dealing with the cops, going to court and stuff. I feel for him. Honestly, without herm1t on
the list, it was a funny article imho, even though it was classless and probably written by someone who cannot bad mouth that well. I speculated and
posted in my blog who might be the one responsible because I was not given a prompt reply by SPTH. But he replied later on and he was certain that
someone from EOF did it based on the events that transpired to him. I have to go with SPTH's view and never speculate anymore since he knew better.
He was the one who sent me the link anyway.

6) Are you going to release another ezine or will you contribute to EOF #4 or valhalla #3?

I announced on my twitter that Brigada Ocho #5 is gonna be released next year. Subsequently, pr0mix/EOF emailed and told me that an EOF-Project zine #4
is currently cooking and offered me the opportunity to make it a joint project. The release date was the same release date that I projected with Brigada
Ocho #5. And then I remembered that I was in the exact situation as before, and that time it was izee offering me the proposal of making Brigada Ocho #3
and EOF-zine #3 a joint release. But during that time, I backed out for the reason that I wanted Brigada Ocho #3 to be a separate release because it was
like concept project that must stand on its own. Well, it is not a dilemma this time. I was reminded of the philosophy that was expounded by EOF and that
is unity in the vx scene which is not bad at all. I played an online game competitively and what I learned from it is that elitism will just give you a
temporary high. It goes to your head and it turns you to a monster. The most important thing I learned from that experience is the lasting relationships
that you make. So I take what I learned from that to now. It is most likely that Brigada Ocho #5 will be in a joint zine release, provided that I meet my
own deadlines. Or if Brigada Ocho #5 cannot justify itself as a part of a joint release, I might just contribute my stuffs to EOF zine #4. About contributing
to Valhalla#3, I'm inclined to think that they'll be eyeing for a 2012 release or a wild guess, a December 21, 2012 release. If what I speculate is true,
anything from me will only be partially finished. But I'll try to submit a poem to them and hopefully they'll publish it ^_^. However, if SPTH, hh86, et al will do
a 2013 release, I will support both Valhalla and EOF.

7) Where do you get your ideas for coding something?

I get my ideas from everywhere - from myself and others. My ideas are generally abstract. You most probably won't hear me "I have discovered a new way of
getting the base address of kernel32" or "here's a new way of inverting bits and bytes". I'm more of someone like "I think picture files can be infected
and ill show you in my lame way." or "Fuck this, let's infect MP3s." I'm not a technical guy. I'm not meticulous. But I'm a visionary, a crazy one, if you
may. I believe in simplicity. I believe in the beauty of simple things and making things simple. I believe that one's ideas should be understandable by all.
As long as you can explain your idea to a 5 year old, that means that idea can be understood by almost everyone, and that's a good thing, imho. I'm inclined
to think that those inventors of high level languages had the same train of thought as i do otherwise they could just be in content with their technical wizardry
and just programming their stuffs in machine code.
When I get ideas from other people I usually innovate from them or I reiterate them to stress that I found them nifty and grand (e.g. a functionality
suggested by SPTH which I succesfully implemented in my MP3 virus). Tip: you can copy a routine as long as you put credits on it. If not, just claim that you
discovered it independently, which I don't recommend unless its true. But you can do it anyway. Who cares. But if someone knows that you rip them, you'll
be in trouble. Prepare for the shitstorm. So better that you put the credits or just be honest. It can never go wrong.

8) How do you name your creations?

I don't follow a theme when naming my creations. Whatever comes to mind. I get the name of important people in my life and put them in a virus. Or get the
defining routine of the virus and making a cool name out of it. Or i could go as simple as naming a Visual Basic creation "JPGInfector", which i did but they
named it "Perrun". But now, I think I'm gonna use the Bible to name my future stuffs. Or maybe use the names of Catholic Saints. I'm into spirituality and
religion now, you know.

9) What do you miss in the VX scene?

I miss rRlf (Hi, philet0aster!) 2 regrets: (1)not publishing Perrun in an rRlf ezine release (good thing they included it in best of) and (2) impersonating
entries in the rRlf guestbook (prolly did it because I was high on meds or drunk, sorry bout this.). I wish I should've stayed longer and witnessed rRlf
becoming soooo big(but I had to leave vxing anyway). I miss VXheavens and its forum. I miss when there were a lot of people in the vx scene. I miss Virusbuster
and 29a coz it was the zine that every virus writer dreams of to be featured in. Before, I had a goal as a viruswriter and that is getting stuffs in a 29a
ezine release because I believe that if I get my stuff to 29a that means I did something right (and I did. One .NET source code).

10) What are you predictions for the VX scene?

DarK-CodeZ #5! Hehehe. That's one. I also predict that SPTH, hh86 et al will form a virus group of their own. Or probably they'll join EOF-project to make
amends (I hope). I expect EOF-Project to be a big group. A cool Dark-CodeZ and Valhalla release this year. VXHeavens going up online once again (If not,
just make a VXheavens forum for us to communicate, calling calling herm1t). With new technologies out, new OSes, new platforms, that means new playground
for old and new vxers. But I'm inclined to think the vx scene will still remain the same, that is as an avenue to boost one's ego by making proof of concepts
and showing that you know the hard stuffs and will always filled with drama/competition even people come and go and/or stay. Good thing that groups like EOF
is making initiatives to unite everyone. And this is the mature thing to do, I think. I also envision a vx scene with people posting their real names with their pictures
along side with their creations. Or them making a new type of interactive zine release which include them discussing their creation in Youtube videos.

11) Do you want to greet someone?

Greets go to you, Perforin, thanks for interviewing me.and to all former members of Brigada Ocho. to SPTH, hh86, m0sa, Chae Jong Bin, Dr.Whax, pr0mix/EOF,
philet0aster/rRlf, PetiK, Otto Von Gutenberg, herm1t, eduardo, tear[a]door, PSVX.org, to all members and exmembers of Your Math Teacher[MATH] guild of
GuildWars 1, to St. Anthony of Padua and St. Benedict of Nursia (Pray for us), to the Philippines, to my family and to God.

Regards, God bless and more power to DarK-CodeZ.

alcopaul/brigada ocho (http://about.me/alcopaul)
August 6, 2012