# Interview with SnakeByte

### Interviewer: Necronomikon

Well, tell us something about you (Age,Realname,Music,etc...)?
I am 20, and currently studying informatics in Darmstadt ;) My preffered music is heavy metal, like Maiden, ACDC, Alice Copper and Manowar..
How did u choose your nickname?
After an Alice Cooper Song.
When you entered in the computer's world?
When I was in the second or third grade my dad brought a computer, and all I did was typing some letters and whatch them appear on the screen ;) Then he bought a new PC, i think it was a 286, and I started in playing games ( Pacman, Digger.. *g* ) and coding some QBasic. Hell my coding style was really crappy in these days.. I didn't even used loops or jumps ;)
When you entered in the VX world?
1998 i started to get interested in viruses and began to learn some dos assembler and coded my first viruses in batch language...
In what languages can u code?
VB, Dos ASM, Win32 ASM, some Qbasic, Pascal, IRC-scripting, and now I am learning java and perl.
What programming language do you like using the most?
ASM, for small apps and VB for everything else ;)
Have you written viruses? If so which would you like to take credit for?
I think Win32.Doser and Win32.RousSarcoma are the only ones worth talking about, the rest are just crappy DOS viruses and IRC-worms.
How much viruses have u coded? Give us their names.
The two above, 2 IRC-Worms ( Lucky and Click-It ), DOS-Crap ( Snake.787 ) and some other nameless viruses for Tutorials ( Shell Script, Perl, Batch, Win32.. and so on )
Are/were you a member of a VX group?
No, I am not. Currently the only group I am in, is KryptoCrew, a german group dedicated to make knownledge and tutorials accessable for newbies. ( Oh, I was part of Kefrens, but let's talk about this another time *g* )
Which viruses/coders/groups/zines do u like most?
Hm.. hard question =)
Virus : At the moment I like Win32.AOC from Bumblebee.
Coders: There are lot's of talented ones : Lord Julus, Bumblebee, Benny and Gryjo ;)
Groups: Same here : Codebreakers, 29a, and I think the Matrix guys do some good stuff
Zines : 29a #5, because it is the newest one i got ;)
Which individual or what group do you like/respect outside the VX world?
I respect Prometheus and Anthraxx for their Linux knownledge and C coding skills.
In addition to this i respect everyone with a lot of knownledge no matter on which
kind of topic. It is always a honorable thing !
What is your view on destructive payloads in viruses?
This is another question which can't be answered in a few lines... On the one hand do I dislike direct destructive things, like deleting all files, crashing disk and so on. But on the other hand, I think backdoors, and spying payloads in a virus are tricky, even if they can cause much more damage. I mean I also coded a virus which does a DDoS attack, but due to the fact I don't spread viruses ( except as source ) I don't think this will ever
harm someone.
Do you think there is such a thing as a 'good' virus? (Describe the perfect virus.)
No, not really good. I think a virus is good for learning interesting techniques, facts, learning some asm and having fun while coding it, but that's all. It will never be a really good thingie ( but isn't that also a fact why
we like coding them ? *g* ) Ehrm, the perfect virus... Hope such a thing will never exist. I mean, in a way it is
like a challenge between the VX'ers, everyone tries to write a better virus. If one would write the "perfect" virus, I think a whole lot of VX'ers would stop coding, because it would be impossible to write a better one.
What is your view on the continuous 'war' between VX and AV.
I think it is more a game. I've met an AV'er from here, and if we didn't talk about the moral/ethical aspect, we had some fun. I mean we and the AV'ers share one thing : the interest in viruses ;) I think the most are ok, and wouldn't virus writing be boring, if there are no "opponents" and every computer is nevertheless infected... ;)
If there is one good side ( we *g* ) there also must be a bad side ( the commercialists ) one can't exist without the other ... ( Heh, I wrote a freeware trojan scanner, wouldn't it be strange if i would talk bad about them *g* )
Have you ever confirmed one of your viruses 'in-the-wild'?
Don't think so. Someone told me one of my IRC Worms to be in the wild, but I don't believe it. In a way I also hope this never happens, would just make trouble.
Besides writing viruses, do u have another hobby?
Coding =) , music, movies, hanging 'round and make party with friends, read some stuff from H.P. Lovecraft or E.A. Poe, collecting E-Zines, read them..
Do people outside the VX scene know what you do (parents, girlfriend etc.)?
Some friends know, I think my parents too, even if I never told them directly, my girlfriend .. nope I never told her.
Should viruses be illegal? Is there a difference between creation and spreading?
I think as it is here it is ok, you are allowed to write what you want to and if you spread them you get busted. For me there is a big difference. It is like creating a knife and using it for mass murder. If i am a talented iron-worker and create a really sharp knife that looks like a wonderful bird. Heh that's cool, I know it could be used for bad things and thats ok, because I would never use it. But if one get this knife and kill's some people, it is not my fault.
What is your view on Windows (3.1/95/98)
Hmm... 3.1 was stupid, because there was always the dos shell after booting, so I decided most of the times to work in DOS and not with windows. Win95 is my favourite, Win98 looks like a bunch of patches for Win95. NT stinks, I just hate this Dr. Watson.. ;) ME has a nice Backgammon Game inside thats cool, but I don't really realize any other ( good ) changes. 2k also seems a fake, just think about the SFP, first a feature now a piece of useless code...
Tell me what do u think about the following topics
MACROVIRUS:
Don't really like them ( sorry Necronomikon ), because they're too easy and fast too code, this doesn't fit into the mystic idea of a virus i once had ;
VIRUS GENERATORS:
Nice too see some code and a nice experience to code one. But I everyone who uses this and thinks he wrote a virus, will never escape from Lamerland :P
POLY ENGINES:
a Headache, but useful
DEBUG AND SOURCER:
I prefer debug..
TASM AND A86:
Both are ok, as long as it is not Masm ..
SOFTICE:
Seems to be cool, but I still can't work with it.. ( anyone who want's to give me
a course ? )
Stealth:
.Should be implemented in Win32 as soon as possible.. ( heh hook some API's and re-implement the disinfection on the fly thingie in Ring-0... this would shock's some AV's )
IRC:
.I am happy I don't have internet access ( or a phone ) in my own flat, because this way I have many more time for coding, I would normally waste on IRC.. :P ( But in a normal dosis IRC is cool )
AV's and their software:
At the moment they all suck. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.
As far as I know they prepare an open source AV..
I hate......
Little kids, which drink too much and start singing stupid songs instead of doing some destruction.. *fg*
I love......
my girlfriend.
What is your advice for people just starting out?
Learn Assembler, read sources, read tutorials.. and then ask questions,.. not before ;)
Where can you be reached if at all?
During the week in darmstadt, on weekends in wiesbaden.. but you might want to drop me a mail to SnakeByte@kryptocrew.de before you visit me :)
My work can be seen at : www.kryptocrew.de/snakebyte/