How a Spanish Virus Brought Google to Málaga

After 33 years, Bernardo Quintero decided it was time to track down the person who had unknowingly changed his life — the anonymous programmer behind a computer virus that had infected his university decades earlier.

The virus, known as Virus Málaga, was essentially harmless. But the challenge of neutralizing it sparked Quintero’s fascination with cybersecurity, a passion that eventually led him to found VirusTotal — the startup Google acquired in 2012. That acquisition ultimately brought Google’s flagship European cybersecurity operations to Málaga, helping transform the Spanish city into a global tech hub.

All of this stemmed from a small piece of malware written by someone Quintero had never met.

Driven by nostalgia and gratitude, Quintero launched a search earlier this year to uncover the virus’s creator. He asked Spanish media outlets to help spread the word, revisited the original code to look for clues his younger self might have overlooked, and eventually solved the mystery. He later shared the emotional conclusion in a LinkedIn post that quickly went viral.

The story dates back to 1992, when Quintero was a university student at Málaga’s Polytechnic School. A professor challenged him to build an antivirus for a 2,610-byte program that had spread across campus computers. “That challenge in my first year at university sparked a deep interest in computer viruses and security, and without it my path might have been very different,” Quintero told TechCrunch.

His return to hands-on technical work fueled Quintero’s renewed investigation. Earlier this year, he stepped down from his role as a team manager at Google to focus once again on experimentation and problem-solving. “Going back to the cave, to the basement of Google,” as he described it, allowed him to tinker freely without management responsibilities.

That mindset led him to analyze Virus Málaga more deeply. He initially uncovered fragments resembling a signature, and with help from another security expert, he later identified a more complete clue in a later variant of the virus: “KIKESOYYO.” Translated, “Kike soy yo” means “I am Kike,” a common nickname for Enrique.

Around the same time, Quintero received a direct message from a man who is now the digital transformation coordinator for the Spanish city of Córdoba. The man claimed to have witnessed a former classmate create the virus while studying at the Polytechnic School. Several details aligned — including one striking fact: he knew the virus’s hidden payload was an anti-ETA message condemning the Basque terrorist group, information Quintero had never publicly shared.

The source eventually provided a name: Antonio Astorga — along with the news that he had passed away.

The revelation was devastating for Quintero, who realized he would never be able to thank Astorga in person. But the story took another turn when Astorga’s sister confirmed that his full name was Antonio Enrique Astorga. To his family and friends, he was known as Kike.

Although cancer claimed Astorga’s life before the two could connect, Quintero’s LinkedIn post helped cement his legacy. He described Astorga as “a brilliant colleague who deserves to be recognized as a pioneer of cybersecurity in Málaga.”

According to friends, Astorga created the virus not to cause harm, but to spread an anti-terrorist message and demonstrate his programming skills. Like Quintero, he pursued a career in technology, becoming a computing teacher at a secondary school. In his honour, the school later named its IT classroom after him.

Astorga’s influence continues beyond the classroom. One of his sons, Sergio, recently graduated with a degree in software engineering and has an interest in cybersecurity and quantum computing — a connection that Quintero finds deeply meaningful.

“Being able to close that circle now, and to see new generations building on it, is deeply meaningful to me,” Quintero said.

He believes Sergio represents the growing pool of technical talent in Málaga today — a development tied directly to VirusTotal’s success. The startup became the foundation for what is now the Google Safety Engineering Centre (GSEC), fostering close collaboration with the University of Málaga and establishing the city as a true cybersecurity hub.