Hacker Claims Credit for XP.BSOD Virus
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Hacker Claims Credit for XP.BSOD Virus
By M. Stefanakopolus
Flintline, MI - In a surprise announcement two days ago, a computer hacker known only by the moniker Sup3rPhr3ak has claimed responsibility for the Xp.BSOD virus. The virus, which spreads through a malicious Internet banner ad, was first detected 9 days ago and is now rapidly spreading "in the wild." The virus produces a mock error display and reboots the computer, causing a loss of any unsaved work. CERT, the Computer Emergency Response Team, has released advisory CA-2003-40, warning users to install ad-blocking software or to avoid clicking on suspicious banner ads. The virus is not currently detected by McAffee VirusScan or Norton AntiVirus software.
Sup3rPhr3ak agreed to be contacted by e-mail for the following BBspot exclusive interview. [Note: BBspot has left Sup3rPhr3ak's responses unedited, despite some hacker jargon, but has included translations where necessary to render the responses intelligible.]
BBspot: Sup3rPhr3ak, what prompted you to create the XP.BSOD virus?
Sup3rPhr3ak: Micro$oft. Ever since Win3.1, users have been conditioned to expect the infamous Blue Screen of Death. We've come to rely on it.
BBspot: You're saying Microsoft made you do it?
Sup3rPhr3ak: Damn right! My stormtrooper [Microsoft employee] cousin sent me a copy of Windoze XP. Suckass xmas present, but I installed it anyway. Figured I could probably hack it or something. At first it was ok I guess, I didn't really notice anything, but after a couple of days I was getting really tense and I was like hey, where's the BSOD?
BBspot: You mean you were upset that your computer wasn't crashing?
Sup3rPhr3ak: $#!+ yeah! It was like my favorite feature!
BBspot: Really? That's not a very common viewpoint. People I know get pretty upset when their computers crash. What did you like about it?
Sup3rPhr3ak: I was always getting dissed by my peers, you know, in school and stuff, so I have a lot of rage. When I had Win95, BSODs showed up all the time and I could yell and scream and blame Micro$oft and vent my anger. Without it, I would have gone all Columbine and stuff. It was like, really cathartic for me.
BBspot: Why did you decide to create a virus?
Sup3rPhr3ak: Well, just cause Micro$oft took out my favorite feature doesn't mean I can't put it back in. I'm a pretty 133t [elite] coder, so I wrote a little app to kick the video card into text mode and display an old Win95 BSOD screen, then reboot when the user clicks OK. I figured that a lot of other ppl [people] were probably upset too, so I tried to contact Micro$oft to get it released as a patch on WindozeUpdate, but I never heard back from them so I just turned it into a virus instead."
BBspot: Analysts at CERT estimate that XP.BSOD is costing the U.S. economy upwards of 100 to 120 million dollars per day in work lost when XP.BSOD reboots infected computers. With the economy fighting to avoid a recession, isn't it irresponsible to release a virus like this?
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Sup3rPhr3ak: LOL! No. It's their own fault. When it runs, all you have to do is hit escape to make it go away. Just cause there's an ok button, ppl think they have to click it? Idiots. Besides, to reboot without getting XP's annoying 'do you really wanna?' dialog, you have to be running as admin. Ppl who are stupid enough to run as admin deserve what they get. [Expletive], man, I'm doing ppl a favor. With KDE and GNOME practically cloning the Windoze UI, without the BSOD how are you even supposed to know if you're running Windoze?
BBspot: I imagine you use the escape feature yourself?
Sup3rPhr3ak: No way man, I go for the full experience! H4rd C0re!
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/04/xp_bsod.html
