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- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- INTERVIEW WITH CROM-CRUACH / TRIDENT / THE NETHERLANDS
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
- Give me a short description of who you are!
-
- - Hacker, Phreaker, Raver, Freak & Stoner...
-
- From where did you get your handle?
-
- - Crom-Cr#ach is the ancient Irish supreme Wormgod...
-
- When did you discover the world of computers?
-
- - About ten years ago a nephew had a BBC I used to screw up. Then some
- friends got C64s- and when the PC began to appear on the market, my
- father bought one...
-
- How long have you been active in the scene?
-
- - With the C64 I joined some Dutch demogroups, about 8 jears ago...
-
- How did you came into the virus business?
-
- - Some years ago the media started to hype about the New Danger- I was
- able to find a copy of Brain and Burger, debugged them to death
- (no sources...) and made a simple direct-action .com infector (never
- released, probably wiped out with one of my zillion hd-crashes).
-
- What part(s) of the underground do you think needs improvements?
-
- - The destructive part. I still can't figure why people smart enough
- to make a nice virus are unable to see that they harm both foes and
- friends with this... also, part of the underground still parties a
- lot, but doesn't do anything against the continuing decrease of their
- rights (Encryption ban/Clipper chip, war on drugs etc...)
-
- Positive/negative aspects of the scene?
-
- - Positive: The good tie between the groups, and the open distribution
- of knowledge.
- Negative: The quantity-above-quality attitude some still seem to
- have. Please, amaze the scene by something inventive instead of yet
- another boring dirct-action-.COM-infector!
-
- Have you been involved in any other group than Trident?
-
- - Yes, many, though this is the only specific virusgroup.
-
- Who started/created Trident?
-
- - Tardy, I thought...
-
- What's the groups goal?
-
- - Throw parties once in a while... ehrm, create and divide chaos?
-
- Who are the "leading/head-persons" in the group?
-
- - I can't really see a leader... we all program, each in our own style...
-
- What's your position in it?
-
- - Ehrm... virus author? :-)
-
- How is Trident (currently) organzied?
-
- - Not. Anarchy to the bone.
-
- Have you got any contacts with other virus-groups/programmers?
-
- - Yes, though I'm not really active in the swapping field...
-
- Can anyone ask for membership, or are you a "private" group?
-
- - Nah, it's private...
-
- Have you ever thought of/are you currently releasing some sort of
- electronic magazine?
-
- - I wrote a hypertext Hitchhiker's Guide to Viruses, and stopped at
- 90%. When I've got time, I'll finish it. Someday ;-)
-
- Are you into other things such as hacking and phreaking aswell, or
- just viruses?
-
- - Yes, I've hacked and phreaked as well, though I haven't done this for
- quite some time...
-
- Do you have some network-connection (some sort of e-mail or something)?
-
- - Yes, cc@weeds.hacktic.nl...
-
- Can you name a few viruses that members of Trident has written?
-
- - Yep.
-
- Which of them have you written yourself?
-
- - I haven't released that many; Little Mess, Horns of Jericho, Weirdo
- and Cheeba were the only ones I believe- I rarely release my creations...
- I mostly write programs showing a specific hole in the system
- protection, I rarely build an entire virus around it...
-
- Which one was the hardest to write?
-
- - I really can't tell; I always write one because I want to try
- something new- this always took some time... Cheeba was my first
- EXE-infector; Little Mess spreads itself through Telix Salt-scripts,
- I had to figure that format- and Horns of Jericho ate its way through
- TB-Scan's .AVR files (if you can still remember TB using them...)- I
- had to figure out that format as well...
-
- Do you have any sort of company or law-enforcement who are trying to
- hunt Trident down?
-
- - Yes, the section Computercriminality of the CRI...
-
- Are they a real threat or just "childish"?
-
- - Neither; they mainly hunt authors of viruses that cause direct damage...
-
- Have you ever had any trouble in the group with the result of kicked
- member(s)?
-
- - No...
-
- How good are Trident comparing to other groups?
-
- - So, what answer do you expect? ;-)
-
- Do you call out aloth, and if so how? (phone/internet etc.)
-
- - I mainly hang out on the Internet, I rarely call BBSses...
-
- Do you have any couriers that spread your products around?
-
- - I do not spread my viruses; if I make one, I publish it in a mag...
-
- What do you think about the laws against h/p/v that has arrived
- lately?
-
- - They seem to make installation-disks illegal as well... I asked Harry
- Onderwater, the chief of the CRI on the hacktic.virus forum about
- this; he told he told he would give his view on this, but hasn't done
- this yet...
-
- What do you think about newspapers describing the scene as nerds?
-
- - Who cares about the opinions of somebody studying something this big
- for one single day?! I couldn't care less about those believing every-
- thing written in the newspapers...
-
- Has the scene in any way influented on your real life?
-
- - Yep, I met many friends there...
-
- Would you feel guilty if one of your viruses made damage to a hospital?
-
- - Yes; does this really need an explaination? I always try to make my
- viruses as compatible as possible, and surely don't make destructive
- ones. Sheesh, it is *way* more difficult to make something really non-
- destructive...
-
- Do you see any differences between the scene now and a couple of
- years ago (concerning the underground part ofcause)?
-
- - Yes, the scene seems to be more focused on personal freedom (Clipper
- chip, Drug laws etc...)
-
- Which virus-magazine do you think is the best avalible now-a-days?
-
- - All have their individual qualities. (Politically correct or what? ;-)
-
- Which virus-group/programmer do you admire/like?
-
- - The non-destructive ones which have the knowledge but still try to
- help others...
-
- Which country is the best virus-writing today? (before it was
- Bulgaria, maybe changed?)
-
- - Bulgaria isn't that active anymore- The US is pretty active, but
- considering the size of the Netherlands, I think our country is
- pretty good as well...
-
- Which virus-group(s) do you think is the best?
-
- - <#include Politically_Correct_Answer.h>
-
- What do you think about these virus generators, such as PS-MPC?
-
- - Good generators are real art...
-
- What do you think about the people using them?
-
- - Yawn. Wake up, learn some code!
-
- What do you think about people bragging over (almost) nothing
- and ragging with other groups aswell?
-
- - Well, I admire them. I wish I could be more like them ;-)
-
- What do you think about such individes as board-crashers?
-
- - They're ruining the scene, giving hackers a bad name... Luckily,
- they're usually morons unable to hack anything but some just-starting
- local bbsses...
-
- Describe the perfect virus :
-
- - A totally compatible multi-platform virus (Bites from IBM to Amiga
- to Mac to...)
-
- Describe the perfect viruscoder :
-
- - See abuv... -Creator
-
- Describe the AV-community with a few lines :
-
- - Nerds wearing anoracks and such. or- a bunch of would-be cover-girls
- eager to attract the public attention, smiling holy and in the
- meantime kicking eachother hard below the camera field... ;-)
-
- Which AV-program do think is the best?
-
- - F-Prot. It's reliable, has very a detailed virus name library and is
- free for individual use...
-
- What do you think about the underground's future?
-
- - I think the underground will become even more aimed against the
- governmental attempts to limit personal freedom (Clipper chip, net
- control, drug laws etc.)
-
- Do you know/heard of any new technics coming in the near future?
-
- - I'm pretty sure the PowerPC will give virus authors a wide scala of
- new possibilities...
-
- Any advice to people who want to learn the basic of virus-writing?
-
- - Try to figure most things out yourself- otherwise you'll force
- yourself into the same methods and problems the original author
- had, and are later on way less likely to come up with something
- new because you're stuck with the standard techniques...
-
- Something else you wish to say?
-
- - Quality above quantity!
-
- Do you wish to send any greets?
-
- - Nah, I always forget some very important one. Therefore, greetings
- to You, the reader (except if you consider yourself for some reason
- a foe; decide for yourself :-)