29A
29A ( hexadecimal for 666) was one of the most prominent groups of virus programmers . It was founded in 1996 and dissolved itself in 2008 due to the decline in membership.
29A published eight issues of its online magazine of the same name at irregular intervals , which contained some of the most technically sophisticated and well-known computer viruses and worms with source code at the time. These include the first cell phone virus (Cabir), the first viruses for Windows XP 64-bit (Rugrat), Microsoft Windows CE (Duts), Microsoft Windows 2000 (Installer), and .NET (Dotnut), or the first virus that can infect Windows and Linux at the same time (Winux). Widespread viruses such as Santy or Hybris were also published in the magazines.
The virus techniques metamorphism and polymorphism were primarily developed or further developed by 29A members.
In November 2004, a Russian member of the group was arrested and fined 3,000 rubles . The reason given was the spread of two viruses. A short time later, three other members were researched and questioned by the police about the spread of various viruses and worms (including SQL Slammer ).
Web links
- 29A Labs
- Janko Röttgers : You love us.txt.vbs ; ( Memento of January 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Telepolis , August 30, 2001
- Brian McWilliams: Virus writers boast about Win 98 virus ; CNN , June 25, 1998
- Robert Lemos: He's got the virus-writing bug ; CNET , Jan. 14, 2005
- JM Hipolito: 29A Grows Out of Virus Writing ; Trend Micro March 9, 2008
- Legendary group of virus programmers disbanded ; Report to heise Security from March 10, 2008
Individual evidence
- ^ John Leyden: Infamous malware group calls it quits: 29A has left the building ; The Register , March 7, 2008
- ↑ Retired virus writer: VX-Crew 29A has left the building ; Announcement on gulli.com from March 10, 2008
- ↑ Peter Ferrie, Péter Ször : Cabirn Fever . Virus Bulletin, August 2004 (pdf; 37 kB).
- ↑ Peter Ferrie, Péter Ször: 64-bit Rugrats . Virus Bulletin, July 2004 (pdf; 30 kB).
- ↑ Cyrus Peikari, Seth Fogie, Ratter: Details Emerge on the First Windows Mobile Virus . InformIT, September 2004.
- ↑ Eugene Kaspersky, Mikko Hypponen: Inta ; F-Secure Virus Descriptions, January 2000
- ↑ .NET Technology is Still in Development, but a Virus Already Exists ; Kaspersky Lab article from January 14, 2002
- ↑ "Winux": Virus infects Windows and Linux systems ; Article in Spiegel-Online from March 28, 2001
- ↑ Peter Ferrie, Péter Ször: Zmist Opportunities ; Virus Bulletin, March 2001 (pdf; 119 kB)
- ↑ Mikko Hypponen: Another virus writer caught & sentenced ; F-Secure, November 17, 2004
- ↑ Alex Gostev: Benny, Ratter questioned ; Posted on SecureList on November 29, 2004