After 33 years, Bernardo Quintero determined it was time to seek out the one who modified his life — the nameless programmer who created a pc virus that had contaminated his college a long time earlier.
The virus, referred to as Virus Málaga, was principally innocent. However the problem of defeating it sparked Quintero’s ardour for cybersecurity, finally main him to discovered VirusTotal, a startup that Google acquired in 2012. That acquisition introduced Google’s flagship European cybersecurity middle to Málaga, reworking the Spanish metropolis right into a tech hub.
All due to a small malware program created by somebody whose identification Quintero had by no means recognized.
Moved by nostalgia and gratitude, Quintero launched a search earlier this yr. He requested Spanish media shops to amplify his quest for suggestions. He dove again into the virus’s code, on the lookout for clues his 18-year-old self may need missed. And he finally solved the thriller, sharing the bittersweet decision in a LinkedIn put up that went viral.
The story begins in 1992, when a younger Quintero was prompted by a instructor to create an antivirus for the 2610-byte program that had unfold throughout the computer systems of Málaga’s Polytechnic Faculty. “That problem in my first yr at college sparked a deep curiosity in laptop viruses and safety, and with out it my path may need been very totally different,” Quintero instructed TechCrunch.
Quintero’s search was aided by his programmer instincts. Earlier this yr, he stepped down from his group supervisor position to “return to the cave, to the basement of Google.” He didn’t depart the corporate; as an alternative, he went again to tinkering and experimenting with out managerial duties.
That tinkering mindset additionally led him to reexamine Virus Málaga and search for particulars that his 18-year-old self would have missed. First, he discovered fragments of a signature, however thanks to a different safety knowledgeable, he found a later variant of the virus with a a lot clearer cue: “KIKESOYYO.” “Kike soy yo” would translate to “I’m Kike,” a typical nickname for “Enrique.”
Across the identical time, Quintero acquired a direct message from a person who’s now the overall digital transformation coordinator for the Spanish metropolis of Cordoba and who claimed he witnessed one among his Polytechnic Faculty classmates created the virus. Many particulars added up, however one stood out specifically: he knew that the virus’s hidden message — referred to as a payload, in cybersecurity phrases — was a press release condemning the Basque terrorist group ETA, a indisputable fact that Quintero had by no means disclosed.
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The tipster then gave Quintero a reputation — Antonio Astorga — but additionally shared the information that he had handed away.
This hit Quintero like a ton of bricks; now, he would by no means be capable to ask Antonio about “Kike.” However he stored following the thread, and the plot twist got here from Antonio’s sister, who revealed that his first title was truly Antonio Enrique. To his household, he was Kike.
Most cancers took away Antonio Enrique Astorga earlier than Quintero may thank him in individual, however the story doesn’t cease right here. Quintero’s LinkedIn put up sheds new mild to the legacy of “a superb colleague who deserves to be acknowledged as a pioneer of cybersecurity in Málaga” — and never only for serving to Quintero uncover his vocation.
In line with his buddy, Astorga’s virus had no different objective than spreading his anti-terrorist message and proving himself as a programmer. Mirroring Quintero’s path, Astorga’s curiosity in IT endured, and he turned a computing instructor at a secondary faculty that named its IT classroom after him in his reminiscence.
Astorga’s legacy additionally lives on past these partitions, and never simply by his college students. Considered one of his sons, Sergio, is a latest software program engineering graduate with an curiosity in cybersecurity and quantum computing — a significant connection for Quintero. “With the ability to shut that circle now, and to see new generations constructing on it, is deeply significant to me,” Quintero stated.
For Quintero, who suspects their paths will cross once more, Sergio is “very consultant of the expertise being shaped in Málaga at present.” This, in flip, is a results of VirusTotal forming the basis of what finally turned the Google Security Engineering Middle (GSEC) and spearheading collaborations with the College of Málaga that made town a real cybersecurity expertise hub.