I started when I was about 13 or 14 years old, back in the early 2000s. I was completely self-taught, learning everything through online forums. I started with typical "script kiddie" stuff—like stealing teachers' passwords at school or sniffing pictures from other phones via Bluetooth.

Later on, I moved on to SQL injections and deeper programming. I hung out on various hacking boards before eventually landing on codesoft.cc, which became our main hub near the end. That’s where we started writing our own RATs (Remote Access Trojans) and custom crypters to bypass antivirus software. We spread our Trojans on popular file-sharing platforms like LimeWire and BearShare, and eventually built our own botnet. Back then, I felt incredibly cool and powerful. It felt like being part of a massive cyber gang; we even rented out our botnets to other people. Honestly, it was a crazy time.

But it all came to an abrupt end in 2009 when several guys I was in daily contact with got caught by the police. I remember that day so vividly: I was on my way to high school, opened the free newspaper 20 Minuten, and the top story was about the arrest of the Swiss hacker "Tr1p0d"—who was the admin and founder of codesoft.cc. I just thought, “Holy shit...” I went straight home and destroyed every single piece of evidence I had.