Interview with Yosha
[late1998]
[reproduced (with permission) from the Feathered Serpents Website]
[Check their site for possible updates]
[http://sourceofkaos.com/homes/owl]

What religious beliefs do you hold?

Agnostic.

What music do you listen to?

Aphex Twin.

How did you find out about computers?

My father bought an Apple II/e and showed me a few simple programs in BASIC. I've been a programmer ever since.

How did you discover computer viruses?

I was infected by Natas. Luckily, a bug in the MBR routine caused it to hang on bootup, so I never experienced the payload. I just had to boot from floppy for a long time until a cleaner came out. Shortly after that, I leart assembly language and began writing some cheesy viruses.

What was your first virus like?

My first virus was an overwriting COM infector. The next version of it was oglimorphic, it swapped instructions around based on a table with pointers to the instructions that could be swapped.

Why did you start writing viruses?

I wanted lots of computers to suffer like mine had :)

How do you name your viruses?

That's the hardest part. I struggle with this, seriously.

Which programming languages have you been fluent in?

Pascal, C/C++, Assembly.

How do you like to lay out your source code?

My source is very sloppy and unorganised. Comments are all over the place. I imagine my source is pretty hard to read. Lately however, my source has begun to take on a little bit of neatness. Once you start coding large viruses, you can't afford to have sloppy code or you'll forget what certain parts of it do.

What are your thoughts on destructive code?

When I first became involved with the virus scene, my viruses were destructive as hell. I've mellowed out since then. I no longer get pleasure out of destruction. I haven't written a destructive payload in years.

How has your virus writing impacted your 'real life'?

They take time away from partying, that's all.

Which AV software do you use yourself?

I use AVP to scan for and clean viruses, and TBAV to remove heuristic flags and fine tune my own poly engines. However, I think Dr Solomon's AV is good too.

What are your thoughts about those who create viruses in non-ASM languages?

High level viruses are the way of the future. Size and disk access time are incredibly unimportant as hardware gets faster and Windows becomes more of a hog.

Do others in your personal life know that you write viruses?

Everyone knows.

If you could be any animate object, then what object would you be?

I'd be a big fat bud, and then I'd smoke myself.

If you could be any inanimate object, then what object would you be?

Uh, I'd be a big fat bud...

Your virus infection hits a hospital and kills someone... are you depressed?

Fuck no. There are too many people on the planet for a few deaths to really matter.

If, and when you die, what do you want written on your gravestone?

Hoc Sugit.

Your thoughts on viruses and the law.

The situation in the USA is fair for all. Damaging someone's computer is wrong, and should be punished. However, the author of a virus should not be held responsible, so long as he didn't spread the virus himself.

What are your favourite viruses?

Vyvojar's Level3 and One-Half are the best viruses around, though they are getting pretty old.

What virus technologies interest you the most?

Polymorphism, new infection techniques, and retro-AV.

Your advice to those just beginning.

Learn assembly language inside and out before you start writing viruses.

What you think lies in the future of virus coding?

I think polymorphism will become the most important part of a good virus, that is, if it's not already. Eventually, engines will be so complex and variable, that 100% detection will simply not be possible.

Describe the perfect virus.

Stable, compatible, and wildly polymorphic.