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The creator of the infamous “ILOVEYOU” virus has revealed himself 20 years later.

In the year 2000, a strange email began making its rounds around the internet. The subject line read “ILOVEYOU,” and it included an attachment titled “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.” A lovely little prospect, or so it seemed. Were that attachment to be opened, it would wreak havoc upon the user’s computer, overwriting files at random while removing others from sight, and when it was finished with that, it’d email itself to everyone on the user’s email contacts list. The “ILOVEYOU” virus, also known as the “Love Bug,” has gone down in modern history as one of the most devastating viruses ever made, causing anywhere from US$5.5–8.7 billion in damages worldwide. Now, twenty years later, the creator of this malignant code has come forth. A writer for BBC, Geoff White, tracked a trail of clues to the Love Bug’s author, and ended up finding him in a phone repair shop in Manila. The creator, one Onel de Guzman, is now 44 years old, and if he is to be believed, harbors pretty heavy guilt over his actions.

According to Guzman, the Love Bug was originally created to swipe login passwords for dial-up internet. Guzman couldn’t afford internet himself, so he tried to get it from whatever source he could, even if it meant stealing it. The virus was originally supposed to stay in Manila where he lived, but when he widened his search net, it ended up spreading to the entire world. Businesses, private and public, lost massive amounts of money due to business downtime caused by overwritten files, as well as work to improve net security.

Credit: Computer Weekly/Geoff White

Guzman claims that he tweaked the virus’s code to spread automatically after some mild success. Right after he did that, he went out drinking with a friend, and didn’t think about the matter again until his mother warned him that there was a police manhunt going on, searching for a hacker in Manila. His mother hid his computer, and Guzman himself was forced to drop out of college and lay low for an extended period.

Guzman has admitted that he regrets sending out the Love Bug, and that he doesn’t like being an infamous figure. “Sometimes I get my picture on the internet,” he told White. “My friends say, ‘It’s you!’ I’m a shy person, I don’t want this.”