By Anna Heim
Publication Date: 2025-12-25 18:00:00
After 33 years, Bernardo Quintero decided it was time to find the person who changed his life — the anonymous programmer who created a computer virus that had infected his university decades earlier.
The virus, called Virus Málaga, was mostly harmless. But the challenge of defeating it sparked Quintero’s passion for cybersecurity, eventually leading him to found VirusTotal, a startup that Google acquired in 2012. That acquisition brought Google’s flagship European cybersecurity center to Málaga, transforming the Spanish city into a tech hub.
All because of a small malware program created by someone whose identity Quintero had never known.
Moved by nostalgia and gratitude, Quintero launched a search earlier this year. He asked Spanish media outlets to amplify his quest for tips. He dove back into the virus’s code, looking for clues his 18-year-old self might have missed. And he eventually solved the mystery, sharing the bittersweet resolution in a LinkedIn post…
