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                CodeBreakers Vx Zine #5  Introduction
                                              By Opic 
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  "The world can be brought forward only by those who oppose it." 
                                                        -Goethe

	Well here we are, finally. This has probably been the most eventful
period of time that Vx history has ever seen. Much has changed, shifted,
fallen into place, and blown up in our faces.  There is so much I'd like to
say about all that has gone on, but I barely know where to start, and even if
I did it may not be in the CodeBreakers, nor my own best interests to make 
any public statements about it, so I'll attempt to keep it brief and factual.

	What's been happening inside the CodeBreakers since our last release
of CBVx-Zine #4? I'll try to map it out chronologically for you (to the best
of my abilities anyways, it's all becoming a blur these days):

-CodeBreakers release a new platform virus: Winscript viruses. As always the 
 AV community releases alot of disinformation about its spreading 
 capabilities. (source found in this issue).

-WinNT.Remote Explorer (the first NT native resident virus -binary found in 
 this issue) is released specifically on the MCI network...allegedly an 
 "inside job" making it available only to the AV community..until now ;) 

-Opic dumps his now ex-girlfriend for good (finally). "Welcome to Dumpsville,
 baby. Population: you." Good ridence to old rubbish.

-CodeBreakers releases the second java native virus (Beanhive- source found 
 in this issue) which the AV also releases alot of disinformation about.

-A macro virus revolution occurs a'la VicodinES "class infection" released in
 CbVx #4. Class.d infects the house of representatives and many other 
 organizations/governments.

-CodeBreakers releases W97M/Caligula (steals PGP keys and uploads them to 
 CodeBreakers.org -source found in this issue). The virus created alot of 
 media attention to the advent of "internet-aware" and "espionage enabled" 
 viruses. A CERT report is released on Caligula as well as countless 
 newspaper/television/radio reports.

-Fred Cohen of ALL.net (sandia labs) preforms himself and recommends that the 
 readers of RISKS security digest preform "Denial Of Service Attacks" on 
 CodeBreakers.org in retaliation for Caligula.

-CodeBreakers.org is taken offline due to constant DoS attacks.

-Fred Cohen suggest to Internet News and other media that I and other
 CodeBreakers members be prosecuted with international cooperation for 
 "control of access devices". (That's right: "treat the *symptom* not the
 problem")

- [Insert other fuct up shit that happened to CB here]

-CodeBreakers.org goes back online on a much more "secure" server.

-The W2KM/Melissa virus is found ITW and spreads like mad across the 
 entire globe in less then 24 hours.

-Mass panic is induced by the media. Through the use of "GUID" #'s contained
 in the infected document it is suggested that Alt-F11 and/or VicondinES had
 somthing to do with the writing and/or releasing of the virus. 

-The FBI and other government organizations, not wanting to look incompentent;
 begin a intensive manhunt for the author.

-Due to the suggestion that VicondinES may be involved, and given his past
 membership to the CodeBreakers (as well as the CodeBreakers association with 
 AVM); the FBI (allegedly) seizes the computer used to host CodeBreakers.org.

-The FBI also seizes the computer used to host SOK.com, rendering perhaps
 90% of the Vx websites dead.

-AOL locates the telephone number from which the virus was posted and hands 
 their logfiles over to the FBI  (the virus was apparently posted from a 
 hacked AOL account).

-A screenshot of the CodeBreakers.org website is rumored to have been seen 
 by Opic's ex-girlfriend on CNN further proof of what a "creep" I am. The 
 CodeBreakers affiliations land us in many major magazines and newspapers. 
 What we once thought would be a dream come true was quickly becoming a 
 nightmare. 

-David L. Smith is arrest at his brothers home in New Jersey allegedly for 
 the release of the Melissa virus. He is currently facing up to 40 years in 
 prison and roughly 1/2 of a million dollars in fines (not to mention the
 civil suits which will undoubtedly be brought against him after his trial).
 
-The FBI makes a statement that the David L. Smith is NOT VicodinES.

-There are rumors and considerations about the retirement of CodeBreakers and
 of my own vx "career". Things had avalanched so quickly, no one was quite
 sure what to do about it (including the authorities).

-The CIH virus (whose source was originally released in CBVX#4) strikes in 
 april rendering hundreds of thousands of computers useless (by overwriting 
 FLASH BIOS).

-Many public and private investigators take an interest in finding out the
 true identities of many of the CodeBreakers members.

-The CIH author is caught by autorities in Tiawan.

So..........After much internal dialogue the CodeBreakers determined the best 
course of action is to continue doing what we have always done: Find new, 
inovative, and interesting viral techniques. We realised that there was a very 
good reason why we were still around: we simply hadn't broken any laws. So 
though our brushes with the abyss had come close, and many of our affiliates
had been implicated, we see no reason to quit now. Besides; things are just
starting to get good ;-) As for the future of the CodeBreakers.org website,
it seems as though we will soon be back online (or may already be by the time
of this publications release. In the mean time, we sit and wait for the dust 
to settle....only so that it might be stirred up yet again. 

	Anyways I digress..In this issue you'll find many of the viruses I 
have been talking about, our final DOS virus tutorial (windows compatible
BS/MBR infection), a few windows 95/32/NT goodies incuding a win32 asm 
tutorial, alot of WM/VBA code, some nice little utilities, a large article 
concerning anonymity on the internet plus much, much more. But enuf rambling 
of this and that, on with the zine.....

-Opic [CodeBreakers]
 opic@redneck.efga.org 