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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?
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!
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