Virus Busting, the Leprechaun way! +--------------------------------+ Well I thought I might call Leprechaun's BBS (company which releases the anti-virus product "Virus Buster") and capture a chat with the sysop there and then publish it in issue #2 of the magazine, well here it is! Not much really as I'm not the most convincing chatter and I have talked to him once before but hey.. here it is.. The dude I talked to was "John" and it seems he's responsible for a fair amount of the work that goes on at Leprechaun, ah well.. his job is worthless with people like us around haha M:Metabolis J:John [comments from me!] ------------------cut here!-------------------------------------------- M:hi there, how's life treating you J:Hard .. too much work ... too little money .. you know the story ... [I can associate with this..] M:well I'm trying to write as many viruses as possible to help you along the way :) heh J:thanks .... [You can see he's really appreciative of our help] M:not a problem.. heh.. so, do you have a copy of our magazine? [He has our Aussie dist site number] J:no, wasn't able to get a connect ... all I got was a blank screen .. [Ain't that convenient? :) ] M:oh bummer.. heh.. ah well! life goes on.. works for me.. strange J:probably some modem / comms stuff up M:heh that's ok.. gives ppl a little more time to do their job of moving the nasties around J:oh ta ... I appreciate that one ...': [now he appreciates it!] M:well we know it's illegal to purposely distribute them.. ppl just compile them debug scripts and do it for us.. safer that way :) [the old "I'm sorry officer" speech hehe] J:ha ha ... a little easier / safer for you maybe ... [as I said.. safer for us.. repetition!] M:yep.. and it's all one big game to be played as wise as possible anyway.. very soon you should get a copy of a new virus with hmmm 7 constant bytes, my polymorphism isn't that good but that'll stuff up some wildcards :) [Brag/toss off time.. ah well hehe.. had to be done and this guy thinks I write the viruses! Me lamer!] J:We have the technology to defeat you (paraphrasing $6M man) [Sounds impressive! What does he mean?] M:heh what is it about "fuzzy logic" I heard in VB? [A rumour I heard about their software] J:Just a bit of code I whipped up to make my life easier and yours harder ... [I'm hurt] M:hehe.. hmmm is it something like heuristics? [hey.. I don't know what it is!] J:That'd be telling .... [ooh industrial ToP SeCReT iNFo] M:well I could always call the local k-rAd c0oL bbs and get meself a copy :) haha [not that I could.. I'm no \/\/aReZ d00d :) ] J:oh ... you could always send us a cheque and get a legal copy ... [as if!] M:heh :) I'd like to promote local industry but I have a slight pennie problem (i.e. they don't exist) as you may be able to associate with J:right .... M:yer, you mentioned something of a news reported last time we talked hmmm [trying to get him to say something cool for this article :) ] J:yes, a national media guy wants to write an article on viruses, etc. [well after the last local media virus thang I can surely say fuck off to this idea! ] M:the media don't do very well when covering viruses.. it seems they all like to go for the scare tactic/make virus authors look like shit/murderers [actually the murderer part is mostly confined to fidonet haha Edwin Cleeton/Jeff Cook.. bite me!] J:them's the breaks ... one other thing, if you're short of pennies, how do you pay for the STD call from Melbourne? [obviously pressing me for info, he obviously thinks the number of the dist site is where we come from! Well the number is in Perth anyway! ] M: :) .. never you mind! haha [had to sound elite.. a matter of principle heh] J:Telecom would be interested in that one ... [scare tactics?] M:I'm sure it would but I'm calling from my mum's workplace so you can have fun trying to get something done about it :) [bullshit story to give him his jollies] J:Thanks for the info .... :) [ooh he now can bust me for phreaking] M:pleasure, you now know I have a mother. [I'm busted for sure now! I mean it's not as if having a Mother is usual or anything] J:Is that just a mother or a mother...... [is that a cryptic question?] M:hmmm well she's a good mum.. lets me use the phone.. heh J:Some people can get away with anything .... :) [I like to think so] M:fair enough.. hmmm the tafe I go to .. they had a taste of no frills hehe.. such ancient things eh? [reminding him of his most favourite virus author and giving him some info to mislead him totally] J:and badly written too .. [I don't think so.. one of the most prolific spreaders around Australia to date] M: :) .. better than mine [too true] J:got some samples ? [as if!] J:care to upload them? [sure I will!] M:duh.. ok (no way :) J:ok, got to go and think up new ways of making my life easier ... ------------------cut here!-------------------------------------------- Do you feel enlightened as to the lameness of Leprechaun? I do. Nope, at one stage they were right on top of the virus scene in Australia.. it caught nearly everything in Oz, but lately they have definately gone into a demise. They haven't submitted their product to VSUM lately I wonder why.. (not that it means shit). Ah well, I still use Thunderbyte.. not that it picks up most of our stuff but it does the job ok. If only it had the virus comments that F-Prot does.. be great to scan my collection with :) Metabolis/VLAD