VicodinES - The Virus Encyclopedia

VicodinES

VicodinES
Sex	Male
Birth Year	1967-1968
Operations	USA
Years Active	1997-1998
Affiliation(s)	The Narkotic Network, Codebreakers

VicodinES is a macro virus writer who was active in the late 1990s. He founded the virus group "The Narkotic Network" and later joined Codebreakers. He is best known for creating the Class MS Word virus and for his alleged connection to the Melissa virus outbreak. His handle is derived from the painkiller "Vicodin Extra Strength." He maintained friendships with fellow virus writers Alt-F11 and Spanska. VicodinES was in his early thirties (around 30-31) during his peak virus-writing years, and 31-32 during the Melissa worm outbreak.

Biography

In 1982, when he was around 14 or 15 years old, his father purchased a TI-99/4A, which sparked his interest in learning BASIC. He also ran a bulletin board system (BBS) called "The Electric Death BBS" using a Compaq Portable.

In 1998, he released several notable viruses, including the Class virus, Sugar.Poppy, and Cartman.Poppy. That same year, he released the VicodinES macro infection suite. By the end of 1998, he began contemplating retirement.

In early January 1999, VicodinES requested that his virus page on "Source of Kaos" be shut down, this being his last known message.

Legal

Around Christmas 1998, VicodinES was contacted by a cyberstalker, who goes by the handle Bloody Stoical Joker (a nod to the Class virus), who claimed their "trolls" had uncovered damaging information about him. They threatened legal action if he did not retire from virus writing, which likely influenced his decision to step away from the scene.

In 1999, during the initial days of the Melissa virus outbreak, a cybersleuth discovered that the Melissa virus shared a matching GUID with the W2000/PSD virus written by VicodinES, as well as the Shiver and Groovy viruses by Alt-F11. This discovery cast heavy suspicion on VicodinES.

Consequently, the FBI launched an investigation and seized "Source of Kaos", the server hosting VicodinES's site alongside other virus writers, as well as Codebreakers.org, a group VicodinES was part of. However, these seizures proved to be dead ends. Authorities eventually tracked down the real author of the Melissa virus, David L. Smith, by tracing a stolen AOL account.

Following Smith's arrest, authorities clarified that VicodinES and David L. Smith were not the same person. Despite this, rumors continued, some cybersleuths continued to believe VicodinES was an alias for Smith, while others theorized they were simply friends or partners. Notably, David L. Smith was never prosecuted for any of VicodinES's actions.

Motives

In an interview with Cicatrix, VicodinES stated that his initial goal was to annoy as many people as possible. However, a year later, he expressed regret and claimed he no longer wanted to cause frustration. His friend, Guillermito, maintained that VicodinES wrote viruses primarily for research purposes.

Ethics

According to leaked chat logs, VicodinES insisted he meant no harm, never wrote destructive code, and did not actively spread his viruses, instead merely hosting them on his public website. He strongly opposed denial-of-service (DoS) payloads and frequently argued with Alt-F11 over the issue. He also engaged in deep discussions about the ethics of computer viruses with Guillermito.

Personality

He openly referred to himself as a "pillhead" with a heavy love for VicodinES pills, which directly inspired his handle.

In his 1997 Cicatrix interview, VicodinES bragged about spreading viruses and even shared a manifesto explaining how to do it. While his creations were notorious for being annoying, there were exceptions, such as the Anxiety.B virus, which contained text exploring his feelings of depression and suicidal ideation. Towards the end of 1998, he began demonstrating more mature behavior; he denied having spread any viruses and expressed guilt regarding the people his code infected.

Other Facts

He once created a self-portrait, though he later claimed it was actually a drawing of the "Vic Macro Poppy Bug."
He respected AVP (AntiViral Toolkit Pro) and its creator, Eugene Kaspersky.
His favorite zines included 40Hex, Xine, and 29A.
He frequented forums dedicated to industrial music, viruses, and drugs.
He was an aspiring industrial music artist and had a PC dedicated solely to his music production, though he never released any records under the VicodinES pseudonym.
He owned three cats named Monkey, Mousey, and Woobie (the latter was deaf).
He was a fan of South Park and occasionally referred to himself as "The Kyle of the Virus Underground."
Aside from virus writing, he occasionally participated in the Warez (software piracy) scene.
His favorite snack was "chocolate ice cream from ShopRite and a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew on an empty stomach."
He created several of the document viewers used for the Codebreakers zine.
His cyberstalker eventually tried, and failed, to obtain his phone number. After the Melissa virus outbreak gained widespread attention, the stalker attempted to write a book detailing how they allegedly caused the downfall of VicodinES but the book suffered from extremely poor sales.
He described his "type" of women as "skinny little blonde chicks with straight hair."
His common nickname was "Vic”, although his friend Foxz would call him “Mr. Vic”.