Gigabyte (virus writer)

Kimberley Vanvaeck,[1] also known by her online moniker Gigabyte,[2] is a virus writer from Belgium known for a long-standing dispute which involved the internet security firm Sophos and one of its employees, Graham Cluley.[1][3][4][5] Vanvaeck wrote several viruses, including Quis, Coconut and YahaSux (also called Sahay). She also created a Sharp virus (also called "Sharpei"), credited as being the first virus to be written in C#.[2][6]

Vanvaeck's dispute with Cluley began after he made several comments concerning the gender of virus writers.[6] This prompted Vanvaeck to write several viruses, that specifically targeted Cluley which were stated to be written as proof-of-concept rather than releasing them in the wild.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Holt, Thomas J.; Schel, Bernadette Hlubik (2010). Corporate Hacking and Technology-Driven Crime: Social Dynamics and Implications. IGI Global. p. 146.
  2. ^ a b Parikka, Jussi (2007). Digital Contagions: A Media Archaeology of Computer Viruses. Peter Lang. p. 145.
  3. ^ Salomon, David (2005). Foundations of Computer Security. Springer Verlag. p. 43. doi:10.1007/1-84628-341-8.
  4. ^ Bocij, Paul (2006). The Dark Side of the Internet. Praeger. p. 57.
  5. ^ Szor, Peter (2005). The Art of Computer Virus Research and Defense. Addison-Wesley Professional.
  6. ^ a b Thomas J. Holt, Bernadette Hlubik Schell (2013). Hackers and Hacking: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 31.


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