How the Spanish virus brought Google to Malaga

After 33 years, Bernardo Quintero decided it was time to find the person who changed his life – an unknown programmer who created a computer virus that infected his university many years before.

This problem, called Malaria virusit was really harmless. But the challenge of overcoming it sparked Quintero’s interest in cybersecurity, eventually leading to his discovery. VirusTotalthe beginning of which Google found in 2012. This purchase brought Google’s well-known cybersecurity center to Málaga, turning the Spanish city into a technology hub.

All because of a small crime program created by someone Quintero never knew.
Fueled by desire and gratitude, Quintero began the search earlier this year. He asked the Spanish media to increase his search for tips. He also delved into the virus’s code, looking for clues his 18-year-old son might have missed. And he finally solved the mystery, sharing bitter thoughts in a LinkedIn post which went well.

The story begins in 1992, when the young Quintero was encouraged by a teacher to create an antivirus for a 2610-byte program that spread across the computers of Málaga’s Polytechnic School. “This crisis in my first year at university sparked my interest in computer viruses and security, and without it my path would have been very different,” Quintero told TechCrunch.

Quintero’s search was aided by his programming ideas. Earlier this year, he he came down from his position as a team manager “back in the cave, under Google.” He did not leave the company; instead, he returned to reflection and experimentation without leadership roles.

Those tired thoughts made him revisit Virus Málaga and look for information that his 18-year-old son would have missed. First, they found fragments of the signature, but thanks to a security expert, they found another type of virus that has a clear identity: “KIKESOYYO.” “Kike soy yo” can mean “I’m Kike,” a popular nickname for “Enrique.”

At the same time, Quintero received a direct message from a man who is now in charge of digital transformation in the Spanish city of Cordoba and said that he had seen one of his friends from the Polytechnic school create the virus. More information was added, but one became very clear: they knew that the hidden message of the virus – called the payload, in cybersecurity terms – was a message of condemnation of the Basque terrorist group ETA, a fact that Quintero had never revealed.

The tipster then gave Quintero’s name – Antonio Astorga – and shared the news that he had died.

This hit Quintero like a ton of bricks; now, he couldn’t ask Antonio about “Kike.” But he continued to follow the thread, and the attack came from Antonio’s sister, who revealed that his first name was Antonio Enrique. To her family, she was Kike.

Cancer removed Antonio Enrique Astorga before Quintero thanked him in front of us, but the story does not stop here. Quintero’s LinkedIn post gives new insight to the legacy of “a brilliant fellow who deserves to be recognized as a pioneer of cybersecurity in Málaga” – not just to help Quintero realize his work.

According to his friend, Astorga’s virus had no other purpose than to spread his anti-terrorist message and present himself as a programmer. Following Quintero’s approach, Astorga’s interest in IT endured, and he became a computer teacher at a high school that named its IT class after him in his memory.

Astorga’s legacy also lives beyond these walls, not just through its students. One of his sons, Sergio, is a recent software engineering graduate with an interest in cybersecurity and quantum computing — an important connection for Quintero. “To be able to close this stadium now, and see new generations grow up, means a lot to me,” Quintero said.

For Quintero, who thinks their paths will cross again, Sergio is “a great representative of the talent being produced in Málaga today.” This, is the reason for VirusTotal to create the root of the content in the end it became the Google Safety Engineering Center (The value of GSEC) and led the collaboration with the University of Málaga that made the city a real hub for cybersecurity talent.