How Bernardo Quintero Cracked a 33-Year-Old Cyber Mystery

[madtrader]

Bernardo Quintero’s hunt for the creator of Virus Málaga relied on the same instincts that shaped his cybersecurity career. Stepping away from management duties at Google, he returned to hands-on tinkering and began reexamining the virus’s original code.

This time, he spotted clues he had missed as a teenager — including a hidden signature in a later variant reading “KIKESOYYO,” Spanish for “I am Kike.” Additional confirmation came from a former classmate who knew a detail Quintero had never shared publicly: the virus carried an anti-terrorist message.

Together, the evidence led to a name — Antonio Enrique Astorga.