[WOP] -666- FESTERING HATE -666- [FOG] W> The Good News: You now have a copy |F o| of one of the greatest programs |r r| that has ever been created! |i s| The Bad News: It's quite likely |e h| that it's the only program you now |n i| have in your possession. |d p| |s p| Hey Glen! We sincerely hope our | e| royalty checks are in the mail! |o r| Seeing how we're making you rich |f s| by providing a market for virus | | detection software! |G o| |l f|Elect LORD DIGITAL as God committee!|e | |n P| )/> The Kool/Rad Alliance! <\( | a| Rancid Grapefruit -- Cereal Killer |B t| |r r| This program is made possible by a |e i| grant from Pig's Knuckle ELITE |d c| Research. Orderline: 313/534-1466 |o k [(C) 1988 ELECTRONIC ARTS] n

Festering Hate(also known as hate) and CyberAIDS are the names of the first two Apple

Apple II

The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...

, ProDOS

ProDOS

ProDOS was the name of two similar operating systems for the Apple II series of personal computers. The original ProDOS, renamed ProDOS 8 in version 1.2, was the last official operating system usable by all Apple II series computers, and was distributed from 1983 to 1993...

 viruses

Computer virus

A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...

. CyberAIDS appears to have been a series of viruses with minor changes in the code, culminating in the final version called Festering Hate, which appeared in 1988 (The Festering Hate World Tour - Festering Hate in '88). When the virus went off, the title page credited "Rancid Grapefruit" and "Cereal Killer" of the "Kool/Rad Alliance!"

The phone number embedded in the detonation page was apparently the home number of John Maxfield (also known as "Cable Pair") a well-known FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 informant and private investigator of the era, whose specialty was computer crime

Computer crime

Computer crime, or cybercrime, refers to any crime that involves a computer and a network. The computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target. Netcrime refers to criminal exploitation of the Internet. Such crimes may threaten a nation’s security and financial health...

 and hackers

Hacker (computer security)

In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...

.

Unlike the few Apple viruses that had come before, such as the Elk Cloner

Elk Cloner

Elk Cloner is one of the first known microcomputer viruses that spread "in the wild," i.e., outside the computer system or lab in which it was written...

 virus, that were essentially annoying but did no damage, the Festering Hate series of viruses was extremely destructive, spreading to all system files it could find on the host computer (hard drive, floppy and system memory) and then destroying everything when it could no longer find any uninfected files.
CyberAIDS
Although there are references and message threads about CyberAIDS appearing on Usenet

Usenet

Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...

 as early as 1985 and 1986, CyberAIDS seems to have attained critical mass in 1987 when it finally spread out of the pirate underground

Warez

Warez refers primarily to copyrighted works distributed without fees or royalties, and may be traded, in general violation of copyright law. The term generally refers to unauthorized releases by organized groups, as opposed to file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar...

, where the payload was originally attached to cracked software

Software cracking

Software cracking is the modification of software to remove or disable features which are considered undesirable by the person cracking the software, usually related to protection methods: copy protection, trial/demo version, serial number, hardware key, date checks, CD check or software annoyances...

, and hit the mainstream networks of the time and began affecting legitimate users.
Festering Hate
Festering Hate was the last iteration of the CyberAIDS code-base and seems to have bridged the virus from underground

Subculture

In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...

 pirate

Copyright infringement of software

Copyright infringement of software=The copyright infringement of software refers to several practices which involve the unauthorized copying of computer software. Copyright infringement of this kind varies globally...

 BBS

Bulletin board system

A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...

 systems to the mainstream, by way of a shareware

Shareware

The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...

 telecommunications application called Zlink. In fact, the original impression was that Zlink itself was nothing but a Trojan horse

Trojan horse (computing)

A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is software that appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install, but steals information or harms the system. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology.-Malware:A destructive program that masquerades as a benign...

 that delivered a viral payload.

During the spread of CyberAIDS, there were apparently a variety of Apple II programmers of the time who wrote virus detection software

Antivirus software

Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware...

 and sold it to protect people from Apple ProDOS viruses. Since the only viruses that existed at the time (and the only viruses that such programs would detect) were CyberAIDS and Festering Hate, the "Kool/Rad Alliance" appears to have released the final version of the code-base to include a sarcastic taunt directed at Glen Bredon, one of the programmers who was selling anti-virus software.

The last strain of the CyberAIDS/Festering Hate variants appears to have been released in 1988 and was fixed by Morgan Davis, who put an end to feud between the "Kool/Rad Alliance" and the writers of anti-virus software by releasing VirusMD for free. Even so, within months VirusMD became a commercial product. By this point the authors of the CyberAIDS and Festering Hate code-base appear to have lost interest in their virus and the Apple II platform itself.
Legacy
The entire CyberAIDS and Festering Hate source code was published in the Summer 1988 issue of 2600 Magazine, by The Plague of MOD.

The article which appeared in 2600 was interesting for a variety of reasons. In addition to publishing viral source code and providing a de facto "how to" guide for potential virus writers, "The Plague" showed a remarkable understanding of the damage he caused, while demonstrating no remorse for his actions and perhaps inadvertently disclosing some of the behind-the-scenes information regarding the pseudonyms of people involved, namely the LOD

Legion of Doom (hacking)

The Legion of Doom was a hacker group active from the 1980s to the late 1990s and early 2000. Their name appears to be a reference to the antagonists of Challenge of the Superfriends...

 members Lord Digital (a.k.a. Cereal Killer) and Dead Lord (a.k.a. Rancid Grapefruit), who later launched MindVox

MindVox

MindVox was a famed early Internet Service Provider in New York City. A controversial sometime media darling — the service was referred to as "the Hells Angels of Cyberspace" — it was founded in 1991 by Bruce Fancher and Patrick Kroupa , two former members of the legendary Legion of Doom hacker...

.

There are "easter eggs" scattered throughout a variety of that era's documents and files, seeing their last appearance in MindVox-era texts, and Patrick Kroupa

Patrick K. Kroupa

Patrick Karel Kroupa is an American writer, hacker and activist. Kroupa was a member of the legendary Legion of Doom hacker group and co-founded MindVox in 1991, with Bruce Fancher...

's parody of William Gibson

William Gibson

William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...

's Agrippa.

References to the virus appear very openly in mainstream media pieces about Kroupa and Fancher.

The last traces of recognition for Cereal Killer and The Plague appear in Rafael Moreu

Rafael Moreu

Rafael Moreu was the writer of the movies Hackers and The Rage: Carrie 2 .- External links :...

's 1995 film, Hackers

Hackers (film)

Hackers is a 1995 American thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco and Fisher Stevens...

. The credits for the movie include former LOD member David Buchwald and 2600 Magazine publisher Eric Corley

Eric Corley

Eric Gordon Corley, Born December 16, 1959, also frequently referred to by his pen name of Emmanuel Goldstein, is a figure in the hacker community...

. Additionally, IMDb lists Nicholas Jarecki

Nicholas Jarecki

Nicholas Jarecki is an American writer and filmmaker, best known for his 2005 documentary The Outsider.A native of New York City, Jarecki attended New York University's film school and graduated at age 19....

 and Bruce Fancher

Bruce Fancher

Bruce Fancher is a computer hacker, a former member of the legendary Legion of Doom hacker group. He co-founded MindVox in 1991 with Patrick K. Kroupa.-Early years:Bruce Fancher grew up in New York City...

as uncredited consultants, who apparently wanted their names removed from the film after seeing the direction it was taking.

While The Plagues 1988 article made it relatively obvious that Lord Digital was Cereal Killer, and Dead Lord was Rancid Grapefruit, the real identity of The Plague himself remains unknown.
External links

• CyberAIDS and Festering Hate overview - written by Open Apple and A2 Central's Tom Weishaar (comp.sys.apple)
• Saga of the Apple II Viruses (comp.virus)