Interview wth Spyda
by EXE-Gency
[January 2000]

Below is the results of an 'unforgiven style' interview between myself and Spyda. Spyda is one of a few UK virus programmers and a member of underground group Ultimate Chaos and writer of the excellent Final Chaos zine.

Give us a short description of who you are. (Handle, interests, occupation, music, films, location, marital status etc.)

> Handle: Spyda
> Interests: when on my computer; programming/coding, when outside, drinking, smoking, playing pool, i have a social life so it ain't that bad :)
> Ocupation: bleh !
> Music: drum n bass :)
> Location: Somewhere over the rainbow...

> D'n'B? yuk!

> rox0rs :P hehehe

What made you choose your handle?

> when i first got onto the internet, i needed a handle, i went around using anything i could think of for a while when i was listening to a drum n bass tape with a MC called "Spider" on it, i thought he rocked and it went from there :)

Have you ever had any previous identities in the computer underground?

> ahh. nah, none :)

When did you first get into computers?

> i was about 11 or 12, i got an Atari 520 STE, but i used that for games only really

What operating system(s) are you currently running?

> at the moment, Win98SE, but i hope to have Win2k running on another box in the next week or two

How and when did you first discover the computer underground?

> hrmm, i started by going to alot of exploit sites, looking at real lame shit, for a while thinking it still worked, then i started reading more into it and actually found it interesting so i carried on digging and ended up where i am now, still digging :)

How did you first get into virus programming?

> when i joined UC i didn't code viruses, i joined UC as the graphix guy, i was interested in viruses but never actually coded them, but, within a month or two of me been in UC i started coding viruses

Do you have an interest in the other components of the computer underground? (hack/phreak/warez etc.)

> i find hacking interesting in terms of its ethics, and what you actually can class as "hacking" but i think that recently with the massive popularity of the internet, the hacking scene is starting to get clogged up with alot of bullshit. i have no interest in phreaking at all. warez... no comment :)

Do you consider yourself to be a criminal?

> nope. if people see me as a criminal, that's how they see me, not as i see myself

Do the recent changes to virus writing law worry you?

> hrmm, yeah, they do

Will it make you stop programmming viruses?

> well, it'll make Spyda stop coding viruses

Do your friends/family/colleagues know about your interest in the computer underground?

> some friends do, my family don't and at the moment i have no interests or reasons for telling them

What are your opinions on virii with destructive payloads?

> depends i spose, i am mainly against them as i can't see the point in "kamikaze viruses", but if they demonstrate something new (like CIH did) i spose it can be beneficial to the VX scene in some ways

How did you get involved with the virus group Ultimate Chaos?

> i got involved with by a string of emails sent between myself and Rhape after i sent him some graphics offering to help desing the old SOK (Source of Kaos) site with him

How many people are in the Ultimate Chaos group?

> active members, i'd say 7 or 8 at the most

Do Ultimate Chaos concern themselves with virus programming only?

> nope, we're stepping into the security field now

Have you been a member of any other groups?

> nope, no other groups

What language(s) do you write viruses in?

> hrmm, i'm learning ASM and trying to learn Win32ASM, but i code alot at the moment in VB and Delphi, so at the moment i've coded a couple of viruses/worms in VB/Delphi

Why did you start programmings? Was it because you wanted to write viruses?

> nope, i originally started coding as a challenge to myself to see if i could do it, then for a while it was a case of seeing if i could better shareware programs and after that i just kinda did my own thing :)

What other languages can you program in?

> ASM / Win32ASM (a little) / VB / VBA / Delphi

What do you think of viruses written in languages other that assembly?

> well, alot of HLL viruses have done quite well, viruses like Toadie and VBS.Freelinks, so i can't say i'm against them

What groups do you value most highly?

> in the virus scene, at the moment i'd say 29A but looking back you must meantion NuKe and Phalkon Skism

Which individual programmers to you value most highly?

> virus coders past and present and in no order, MrSandman, Darkman, Rajaat, CIH author, VicodinES, Dark Avenger, Opic and Vecna. big 29A influence :) hehehe

What zines do you read regularly?

> i read VX zines mainly, i don't normally read many other zines

What do you think of the virus scene? (Both in general and in the UK.)

> there isn't much of a virus scene in the UK, as for the virus scene in general, there's way too many idiots getting into the scene with a "i wanna take the world over" atitude which obviously is not good

How has the underground scene changed since you first entered?

> hrmm, i haven't been in as long as some others, but i have noticed a change, mainly due to the Melissa incident

What do you think the future of virus writing holds?

> i really don't know, at the moment, i see VX will always be on top of AV, i can't see that changing at the moment either

Do you believe in a 'perfect virus'? And if so describe it.

> No, i don't think there can be a perfect virus. In order for it to be perfect, it must be perfect in everyone's eyes, and i can never see an infected user thinking that the virus that just infected their system is perfect

What advice would you give to newbies entering the virus scene?

> read the #virus FAQ (http://www.coderz.net/virus) if you have any intentions of joining virus, just so you don't ask stupid questions

What language(s) do you think newbies should start writing viruses in?

> i really think it is up to the person, purists would say ASM/Win32ASM but i really do believe if you're good at a certain language, stick with it, just look at Bubbleboy, that wasn't coded in ASM...

Any greets/thankyous?

> yeah, greets (in no order) too: Rhape79, PaX, MidNyte, Gigabyte, Clau, Evul, MrSandman, Darkman, peon, BSL4, Phage, Tally, Zulu, HomeS|ice, Del_Armg0, ProGen, Infra Red and DarKPaiN hehehe

Any plugs? (Homepage, email address, zines)

> http://www.ultimatechaos.org <-- Go there now :) or if you wanna see my humble little offering --> http://www.ultimatechaos-security.co.uk
> spyda@ultimatechaos.org | spyda@ultimatechaos-security.co.uk | spyda@itookmyprozac.com hehehehe

Anything you would like to add?

> Nope, just thanx for the interview :)

Thanks for being interviewed Spyda