Interview with Skism One - AKA Lord SSS
by Hellraiser

This interview was taken by Hellraiser on July 7, 1991 in Washington Square Park, Manhatten and published in 40Hex Volume 1 Issue 2.

So what got you started in the virus business?

Well, I used to write graffiti all over and that got sort of played out, so I needed something else distructive to do. So I started getting into computers, then the next thing you know I'm writing viruses.

What was you first experence with viruses?

Well the first time I heard of them was when that dickhead got arrested for putting the worm...

You mean Morris?

Yeah that asshole, it was on the news and all that - so I got to thinking, that would be a cool thing to do.

What was the first virus you ran across?

Ha... Some dick gave me a copy of (pause) it think it was Norton 4.0 when it first came out. So I took it home and put it on my hard drive. The next thing you know all this weird shit starts going on. Like programs won't run and this little box opens up on the bottom of my screen all of a sudden. So I get a copy of SCAN, then I find out almost all my files are infected with Jerusalem.

What did you do?

Well I re-formatted the drive and examined the copy of Jeru for months. Then one day I used a Hex editor to change the suMSDOs string to SKISM-1. Then I went to all the computers I could find and infected them. The next thing you know my friend shows me this list with my name on it. It was Patti Hoffmans document. Shit, I thought I was the man back then.

Then what?

Then - well I got into assembler and dissasembly and I started to learn how to modify the code and all that. The next thing you know I had made my own virus from the scraps of Jeru.

Captian Trips, right?

Yeah, sort of. Then someone I know sent it to all the boards in town under a trojan name and fucked a lot of peoples shit up. Oh well. Then I guess I grew out of the scavenger mode and started writting my own shit, from scratch.

Like what?

Well they were all called Skism so and so, like Skism 10, Skism 11 and all that. Then I meet people and they started helping me out and now we got this thing going on.

You mean Smart Kids Into Sick Methods?

Yeah, you know all thid did did dat.

How do you name your viruses?

Well depends whats on my mind. Skism was my tag for like four years, so I thought it would be cool if people saw my name in the newspaper and all that. I got Captian Trips after reading The Stand, by Stephen King. 1992 was just what I named it cause the virus came out to be about 1945 bytes so I jusy padded it out to next years date. 808 was named after the TR-808, a 'drum machine' used in hip-hop.

Whats the latest projects?

You know, you wrote most of the shit.

Tell them. The people.

Well, we did SKISM 1992, which was funny, then a member of SKISM, who shall be nameless made 808. Now I'm just taking a break from viruses and computers for the summer.

You stopped?

Your crazy, nah - It's got to wait a while, then I'll get back into it - when school starts again.

What do you think of McAfee?

He's cool, what the fuck am supposed to say. He does a good job at spreading my name around. I really like Pat Hoffman, thanks for the write ups. You got to understand - these people make us into infamous villians. I can deal with that.

Do you mind them detecting your viruses?

Nah, fuck it - If my shit can make it from NY to California without effort, it shows it works. Thats it. Thers a lot more where that came from. One more thing, I hate that gay bitch Ross Greenberg author of Flu-Shot. What a dick. He's just an asshole tring to sell his shit product. He's got a big mouth and instead of crashing his board, I'd like to kick his fucken ass. Where's his office? Up one 57th right? Lets take a walk. Just kiddin' but the guys product sucks and he's just a greedy asshole. I'm glad I sent a trojan version of his virus scanner around. Ha you dick!

What virus authors do you look up to?

Myself - Ha Ha (laughter) Ha Ha. No, I love Whale - that was clever. I like Dark Avenger, the real one. Its hard to be original, and these guys were. Hats off you crazy fuckin' Bulgarian Metal-Head!

What about groups of virus writers?

I think were the only one. Oh yeah and those Rabid people you told me about, yeah there just like us - people tring to make there mark in the world, or should I say dent in the world. Germans are bugging out too - Shit, they write half the shit out there these days. More power to them

What is your advise to people who want to write viruses?

Get a late pass! No as I said more power to you. Just remember you got to have style and learn to be ORIGINAL.

What next from you?

I don't really know. I'm waiting to hook up a few more people to the pack, then we'll get the thing rollin HARD. Till then 'A little at a time...'

At the time this artical was finished, the Skism team was at work on a new virus code named Bad Brains.