Bernd Fix
{{Short description|German hacker and computer security expert}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bernd Fix
| image = Bernd_Fix.jpg
| image_size = 180px
| caption = At 24C3 in Berlin (2007)
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1962|3|19}}
| birth_name = Bernd Robert Fix
| birth_place = Wittingen, Germany
| occupation = Hacker
| known_for = Computer virus research
| nationality =
}}
Bernd Fix (born 19 March 1962 in Wittingen, Lower Saxony) is a German hacker and computer security expert.
Biography
After final secondary-school examination from Gymnasium Hankensbüttel in 1981, Bernd Fix studied Astrophysics and Philosophy at the universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg. He received his diplom for a work in the field of theoretical astrophysics in 1989. From 1998 Fix was living and working in Switzerland; he moved to Berlin in 2014.
In 1986 Fix joined the Chaos Computer Club (CCC) in Hamburg and started to work on computer security issues, focussing on computer virus research. He published a first demo virus (Rushhour) in autumn 1986 in the Datenschleuder #17, the hacker magazine edited by the CCC.{{cite web |title=Virus Timeline |url=http://www.research.ibm.com/antivirus/timeline.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027045532/http://www.research.ibm.com/antivirus/timeline.htm |archive-date=2012-10-27}} He also contributed results of his research to the book "Computer Viruses" by Ralf Burger.[https://archive.today/20120723214020/http://lccn.loc.gov/89163816] Ralf Burger: Computer Viruses (ASIN B000P13P56) From 1987 to 1989 Fix was one of the spokespersons for the Chaos Computer Clubhttp://chaosradio.ccc.de/doc032.html 1989-01-02 5. Chaos Communication Congress (german) and author for the "Hacker Bible 2".{{cite web |url=http://www.chscene.ch/ccc/habi2/260_habi2.html |title=[Chaos CD][HaBi 2]- Hacker Bibel 2 |accessdate=2010-06-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100411034033/http://www.chscene.ch/ccc/habi2/260_habi2.html |archivedate=2010-04-11 }} Hackerbibel 2 (german)
In 1987 he devised a method to neutralize the Vienna Virus; this event marks the first documented antivirus software ever written.{{cite web |title=Securelist (History of malicious programs) |url=http://www.securelist.com/en/threats/detect?chapter=108 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724073428/http://www.securelist.com/en/threats/detect?chapter=108 |archive-date=2012-07-24}}{{cite web |title=Kaspersky Virenlexikon |url=http://www.kaspersky.com/de/downloads/pdf/kaspersky_virenlexikon.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524051512/http://www.kaspersky.com/de/downloads/pdf/kaspersky_virenlexikon.pdf |archive-date=2012-05-24}}
Fix is also the author of several research viruses; among them the VP370 virus for IBM mainframe computers. The VP370 source code was allegedly stolen by the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service in Germany) in 1988 to be used in attacks against East Block and NATO mainframe computer systems in the so-called "Project Rahab".http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Alberts_Anthology_II.pdf Information Age Anthology (Vol.II): National Security Implications of the Information Age[https://archive.today/20120709212124/http://lccn.loc.gov/92034924] Peter Schweizer: Friendly Spies - How America's Allies Are Using Economic Espionage to Steal Our Secrets ({{ISBN|0871134977}})http://aspector.com/~brf/rahab.html Bernd Fix: A strange story
= Wau Holland Foundation and WikiLeaks =
After the death of his friend Wau Holland (co-founder of the Chaos Computer Club) in 2001 Fix helped to establish the Wau Holland Foundationhttp://www.wauland.de {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211093823/http://www.wauland.de/ |date=2010-12-11 }} Wau Holland Stiftung and serves as a founding member of the Board of Directors ever since.
According to Fix, when the Wau Holland Foundation started official operations in 2003, he and other founding members were in contact with Julian Assange and in 2009 they decided to support WikiLeaks.{{Cite news |last=Shapiro |first=Caitlin Dickson, Eliza |date=2013-07-09 |title=WikiLeaks' Money Trail: How It's Raising Money for Snowden & Assange |language=en |work=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/09/wikileaks-money-trail-how-it-s-raising-money-for-snowden-assange |access-date=2022-10-05}} According to an interview from 2011, he got fired from his job at SIX Financial Information because of the foundation's support for WikiLeaks.{{cite web|url=http://www.sonntagszeitung.ch/multimedia/artikel-detailseite/?newsid%3D164211 |title=SonntagsZeitung | Der Super-Hacker |accessdate=2013-04-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010911/http://www.sonntagszeitung.ch/multimedia/artikel-detailseite/?newsid=164211 |archivedate=2013-10-05 }} SonntagsZeitung.ch on 23. January 2011: Der Super-Hacker
In July 2016, on the same day "Guccifer 2.0" sent Assange an encrypted 1 GB file containing stolen DNC emails, German hackers Andrew Müller-Maguhn and Bernd Fix met with Assange for at least four hours. Müller-Maguhn, the Wau Holland Foundation Vice President, is named in the Mueller report as a possible conduit for delivering hacked emails to Assange.{{Cite news |last=Poulsen |first=Kevin |date=April 18, 2019 |title=Mueller Report: Assange Smeared Seth Rich to Cover for Russians |newspaper=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/mueller-report-julian-assange-smeared-seth-rich-to-cover-for-russians |access-date=April 22, 2019}}{{Cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Marshall |last2=Guerrero |first2=Kay |last3=Torres |first3=Arturo |date=July 15, 2019 |title=Exclusive: Security reports reveal how Assange turned an embassy into a command post for election meddling |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/15/politics/assange-embassy-exclusive-documents/index.html |access-date=July 15, 2019 |website=CNN}} According to The Washington Post, a former WikiLeaks associate said that year Müller-Maguhn and a colleague oversaw submissions to WikiLeaks server that year, which Müller-Maguhn denied.{{Cite news |title=A German hacker offers a rare look inside the secretive world of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-german-hacker-offers-a-rare-look-inside-the-secretive-world-of-julian-assange-and-wikileaks/2018/01/17/e6211180-f311-11e7-b390-a36dc3fa2842_story.html |access-date=2022-03-21 |issn=0190-8286}} According to court documents, Müller-Maguhn and Bernd Fix were identified as priority targets of UC Global's spying.{{Cite web |title=Spanish court to question witnesses over 'illegal surveillance' of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange |url=https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252490625/Spanish-court-to-question-witness-over-illegal-surveillance-of-WikiLeaks-founder-Julian-Assange |access-date=2022-10-05 |website=ComputerWeekly.com |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{in lang|de}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20101211093823/http://www.wauland.de/ Wau Holland Foundation]
- {{in lang|de}} [http://www.ccc.de/ Chaos Computer Club]
- {{in lang|de}} [http://datenspuren.de/2011/fahrplan/events/4641.de.html Datenspuren 2011]
- {{in lang|de}} [http://datenspuren.de/2011/fahrplan/attachments/1946_RechteImInternet.pdf Das-Internet-darf-kein-Rechtsfreier-Raum-sein.pdf]
- {{IMDb name|id=7135339|name=Bernd Fix}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fix, Bernd}}
Category:People from Wittingen
Category:German computer scientists
Category:Members of Chaos Computer Club