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ARCV, Association of Really Cruel Viruses

I have saved and collected a **huge** amount of data from the 80s, 90s and early 00s from the UK Hacking and Phreaking scene. Many of it has been lost over the years, so I will be dumping it here over the next while in the hopes someone finds it interesting!

First up though we have ARCV, a virus writing group from the early 1990s!

ARCV

Around late 1992 a group emerged calling themselves the Association of Really Cruel Viruses (ARCV). The group was initially small, and by all accounts relatively unskilled, and was made up of two people, Apache Warrior who was the leader of the group, and ICE-9. They soon recruited two more, Toxic Crusader and Slartibartfast, and became one of the first virus writing groups in the UK.

Over the next year, they would write around 100 viruses, the first few were created using a virus generator called Virus Creation Laboratory (VCL) but they would soon end up writing their own virii, apparently, they were also very well written! Apache Warrior would also end up creating the group's engine, Cybertech Mutation Engine (CME).

ARCV didn't last too long before Scotland Yard caught up with them in an unsuspecting way. A year after they entered the scene around December/January 1993 Apache Warrior and ICE-9 were arrested in the Salford area in the UK. The group had been distributing their viruses and newsletters to a BBS in Cornwall as well as others via beige boxing. In their great wisdom, they decided that the best target of the beige boxing would be their neighbours' line. Scotland Yard did not even realise these two phone phreakers they just caught were also the founding members on ARCV until the confiscation of their computer equipment.

Apache Warrior cooperated with the police, and further examination of the confiscated equipment confirmed that not only had the police caught some phone phreakers, but they also caught the leader of ARCV. On Wednesday, January 27 1993, four other ARCV members in Manchester, Cumbria, Staffordshire and Cornwall were raided by Scotland Yard and their computer equipment confiscated. This was ICE-9, Toxic Crusader, Slartibartfast and the arrest in Cornwall was the SYSOP of the BBS where ARCV transferred files too so not officially a member of ARCV. In total there were six arrests and all were released on police bail pending further investigations.

DC Noel Bonczoszek of the Computer Crimes Unit failed to identify anyone affected by any ARCV created viruses. Due to this Apache Warrior, ICE-9 and the two other members were let off with cautions. One was cautioned relating to another matter, the BBS SYSOP, and the last one was released with no further actions.

FILES

You can download all the files I have on ARCV from the following gemini site.

ARVC Files

MISSING

Got any of these files? Let me know!

USENET / EMAILS

Feb, 1993 : Spreading Viruses
Personal Computer World Magazine

We are a bunch of programmers who, depressed with the lack of viruses that

have originated in England, have sought to change matters. We presently

write viruses for the PC, Archimedes and Atari ST. We have increased the few

viruses written in England by about 25, though this number is increasing all

the time as our programmers churn out more quality computer viruses.

Although there are many viruses about we hope to dominate the UK 'market'.

Won't it be nice, though, for England to have at least one export? Finally,

we as an organisation like to stress that, contrary to public opinion, we are

beaten as children and so grew up with a hatred of humanity. We are highly

intelligent and good at programming and are just ordinary people. But we are

gonna get you soon!

- ARCV (Association of Really Cruel Viruses)

4 Feb, 1993 : Apache scalps virus cowboys

Police raided the homes of suspected computer virus authors across the

country last week, arresting five people and seizing equipment. "The raids

were carried out last Wednesday by police in Manchester, Cumbria,

Staffordshire and Devon and Cornwall." Scotland Yard's computer crimes unit

co-ordinated the raids under the codename Operation Apache. A spokeswoman for

the Greater Manchester Police said: 'The investigation began in the

Manchester area following the arrest of the self-styled president of the

virus writing group in Salford last December.' Police would not reveal the

man's name, but said he had been released on bail. "Last week's raids led to

the arrest of a further two people in Manchester. Three other suspects were

also arrested in Staffordshire, Cumbria and Cornwall." PCs and floppy disks

were seized in all the raids. "All those arrested have been released on

police bail pending further investigations."

4 Feb, 1993 : UK Virus Writers Group Foiled by Scotland Yard

British police have arrested four members of a virus-writing group that calls

itself the Association of Really Cruel Viruses (ARCV).

The Scotland Yard Computer Crime Unit coordinated the raids carried out on

suspects in Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, Devon, and Cornwall. The

arrests last Wednesday, January 27, bring to six the number of ARCV members

found by police, after they initially arrested one caught "phreaking" in

Manchester in December. ("Phone phreaking" is the illegal practice of

obtaining free use of telephone lines.) The arrests were made under Section 3

of the Computer Misuse Act, which prohibits unauthorized modification of

computer material, said Detective Sergeant Stephen Littler. The suspects, who

cannot be identified at this stage under British law, have been released on

bail pending inquiries and may face further charges.

The members of ARCV used PCs to write viruses, which they shared via a

bulletin board operated by one suspect in Cornwall. The police confiscated

hardware and software, which is being studied by virus experts to determine

how many viruses were written and what the viruses were intended to do,

Littler said. The British anti-virus community became aware of ARCV through

the group's own publicity efforts, such as a newsletter that it had uploaded

to various bulletin boards in the U.S., according to Richard Ford, editor of

the monthly "Virus Bulletin", which is published in Abingdon, Oxon, England.

The newsletter was described in detail in the November, 1992, issue of "Virus

Bulletin".

To the best of my knowledge, none of their viruses are in the wild, out

there spreading" said Ford. But they have been found on virus exchange

bulletin board services, and we've had reports of them being uploaded rather

widely in the UK. ARCV claims, in its newsletter, to have links with

PHALCON/SKISM in the U.S. and other virus writers in Eastern Europe. "The

world is a very small place when you've got a modem, or are on the Internet",

Ford said. The newsletter invites new members to join even if they are not

virus writers but prefer other "underground" activities such as hacking and

phreaking. It also betrays ARCV's fears of being perceived as nerds (a term

not used in Britain) saying, "Now the picture put out by the Anti- Virus

Authors is that Virus writers are Sad individuals who wear Anoraks and go

Train Spotting but well they are sadly mistaken, we are very intelligent,

sound minded, highly trained, and we wouldn't be seen in an Anorak or near an

Anorak even if dead."

ARCV has already failed at one of the objectives mentioned in its premier

newsletter issue, which said, "We will be dodging Special Branch and New

Scotland Yard as we go."

From: m...@doc.ic.ac.uk (Mike C Holderness)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: This just in from London...
Date: 3 Feb 1993 13:57:06 -0000
Department of Computing, Imperial College, University of London, UK.

Police have arrested Britain's first computer virus-writing group in an

operation they hope will dampen the aspirations of any potential high-tech

criminals. Four members of the Association of Really Cruel Viruses (ARCV)

were raided last Wednesday in a joint operation in four cities co-ordinated

by Scotland Yard's computer crimes unit. The arrests in Greater Manchester,

Cumbria, Staffordshire and Devon and Cornwall, bring to six the members of

the group that have been tracked down by police. Two others, also writing for

ARCV, were arrested a month ago in Manchester. This six are thought to have

written between 30 and 50 relatively harmless viruses....

[continues. By Susan Watts. (C) 1993 Newspaper Publishing plc.]

Comments, especially from survivors and even more from people in the UK who

are into a little light looking around but nothing Really Cruel, very

welcome. Yes, I am a journalist.

16 May, 1994 : Urnst Couch / Crypt Newsletter

About the same time, a hacker was arrested for stealing phone service from

his neighbor's line and his equipment confiscated, too. The hacker turned out

to be Apache Warrior, a member of the small United Kingdom virus-writing

group called ARCV (for Association of Really Cruel Viruses).

Some background information not included in the book: Alan Solomon was

apparently able to convince New Scotland Yard's computer crime unit that they

should also try to prosecute Apache Warrior as a virus-writer and that the

rest of the group should be rounded up, too. In conversation, Solomon has

said Apache Warrior turned over the names of other group members.

Subsequently, New Scotland Yard and local constabularies conducted raids at

multiple sites in England, arresting another man. Paradoxically, prior to the

arrests, Solomon joked that ARCV was better at cyber-publicity than virus

programming and its creations were little more than petty menaces. The book

offers no reported incidences of ARCV viruses on the computers of others,

although Virus News International, by extension S&S International, solicited

readers for such evidence in 1993.

Date: Fri, 16 Apr 93 09:17:21
From: aryeh@mcafee.com (McAfee Associates)
Subject: Forwarded message from Scotland Yard

Hello All,

I was recently contacted by DC Noel Bonczoszek of the Computer Crimes Unit at

New Scotland Yard in London. As some of you may be aware, Noel is one of the

folks responsible for arresting the members of ARCV, a UK-based group of

virus-writers. He would like to speak with anyone who suffered an infection

from any of their viruses. If you have been infected by one of their

viruses, or know of someone who has, then please give him a call at +44 (71)

230-1177 during office hours (GMT), or send him a fax at +44 (71) 230-1275.

Please bear in mind that I'm only forwarding this message for DC Bonczoszek.

If you have any questions, please contact him directly.

SOURCES

https://ivanlef0u.fr/repo/madchat/vxdevl/vdat/misc0040.htm