Is David Smith VicodinES?

By Jim Louderback

Now we know who wrote Melissa-- a 30-year-old computer programmer from Aberdeen, New Jersey named David Smith.

But the question still remains: Is David Smith the shadowy virus creator and tutor who calls himself VicodinES? Recent information obtained by ZDTV shows that if they aren't the same person, they're close enough to be brothers.

Smith and VicodinES share the same age, location, and pill predilections.

ZDTV CyberCrime analyst Luke Reiter, and ZDNN reporter Joel Deane disclosed on Friday that Smith and VicodinES are both linked to New Jersey Internet service provider Monmouth Internet. Melissa was launched onto the Internet using an IP address from Monmouth Internet. Smith was caught when that IP address was tracked directly to his account, on that day.

But as Reiter discovered, the email VicodenES used to cancel his website on SourceOfKaos.com also came from an IP address assigned to Monmouth Internet. Reiter and Deane lay out their case in "The Melissa Virus's Unanswered Questions."

But there's more than just IP addresses linking Smith and VicodinES. According to a 1997 interview with on the VDAT virus zine, Smith and VicodinES share the same age, location, and pill predilections.

In the 1997 interview, VicodinES says he loves "chocolate ice cream pops from Shop Rite." Shop Rite is a large supermarket chain with stores in the mid-Atlantic states, but the majority are located in New Jersey. In fact, there's a Shop Rite in Smith's hometown of Aberdeen.

In that same interview, VicodinES reveals that he got his start in computers when he "was 14 or 15 and my dad purchased a TI-99 4/A... the time-frame here was like 1982? Maybe a bit later." That would make VicodinES about 30 or so, the same age as David Smith.

Also, no surprise, VicodinES loves painkillers of all sorts. He took his handle because "I was very high on (VicodinES) when I decided to start writing virii so I thought it was appropriate." VicodinES likes all forms of painkillers. Later in the interview he states, "don't think you can invite me over to your house without me searching your bathroom medicine cabinet for painkillers. I will steal them, you can count on that."

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, David Smith has used the alias "Zanax.Smith" on the Internet. Zanax, a k a Xanax, is an addictive anti-anxiety tranquilizer and pain-killer.

VicodinES and Smith also share the same profession. In 1997, VicodinES was running "the MIS dept. for a large engineering firm." Smith is a contract programmer for AT&T. That's not surprising, given that virus writers are likely to very good at computers.

In 1998, VicodinES left The Narkotic Network, and joined CodeBreakers. The FBI has seized the websites of both SourceOfKaos-- which hosted VicodinES's group-- the Narkotic Network, and Codebreakers. The divergent programming styles between Melissa and VicodinES viruses still give some credence to the New Jersey Attorney General's assertion that Smith and VicodinES are separate.

Opic, another Codebreaker virus developer, has also been mentioned as a possible Smith alias. Opic has frequently named his viruses after women, and he also seems to be about 30 years old, according to a VDAT interview. However, in that same interview Opic states that he doesn't use computers in his day-job, which would make the Opic/Smith connection more tenuous.

Still, given all the similarities between Smith and VicodinES, it's likely that even if they aren't the same person, they knew each other personally, rather than just electronically. And since it appears that Smith built Melissa on work previously done by VicodinES, that connection may be more than just casual.