Viruses
Three viruses earn passive income, and each one runs on a different part of the server it's installed on. Because they lean on different hardware, they never compete with each other for a server's earnings. Only viruses of the same type do.
| Virus | Runs on | Earns | Needs on your machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miner | the host's CPU | Bitcoin | a Bitcoin wallet |
| Warez | the host's bandwidth (NET) | cash | a torrent (better torrents earn more) |
| Spam | the host's RAM | cash | nothing |
Of the three, spam is the only one that needs nothing extra on your end. Warez wants a torrent and the miner wants a Bitcoin wallet, both sitting on your own machine, so you'll add those once you've picked them up. That's a setup difference, not a ranking; which earner actually pays best is a per-server question, covered further down. There's a fourth virus, the DDoS virus, but it doesn't earn anything. It turns a server into a botnet slave for attacks, and it's covered under DDoS & Botnets.
What a single virus pays out comes down to four things:
- Host hardware — the bigger the stat it runs on, the more it earns: a miner on a fast CPU, spam on a big-RAM box, warez on a fat pipe.
- Virus version — a higher version earns a little more, but only a little.
- Same-type count — the server's earnings for that type are split evenly among every same-type virus on it.
- Collector version — when you collect, your collector adds its version number as a flat percentage to the whole haul, so a
v15.0collector means 15% more on all virus income.
Version is the weakest of those levers. A v1.0 virus sitting alone on a server out-earns a v18.0 virus that's sharing it with even one other of its type. Don't chase virus versions, chase the right virus type for the situation.
Warez has one extra lever. The torrent on your own machine sets its rate, so prioritize downloading Fotoshop CS6.torrent early.
You collect everything in one sweep from Hacked Database > Collect Money. One quirk to know: viruses must run for 10 minutes before their generated income can be collected. Each virus also has roughly a 1-in-20 chance of paying double on a collection, which shows up as a BONUS! flag in the log.
This is the single biggest factor in what you earn. A server pays out a fixed amount for each virus type based on its hardware stats, and that amount is split evenly among every active virus of that type on it. Two miners on a box and each takes half. Three and each takes a third. Different types don't touch each other, so five warez and your lone spam on the same server still means you keep all of the spam earnings.
So before you install anything, look at what's already there and lean toward a type nobody else is running. A solo virus of another type usually beats joining a crowd on the server's best one. However, if that best stat is large enough, a pool split only a few ways can still come out ahead of a lone virus on a weaker stat. The switching reference has the actual crossovers.
Since each earner uses a different stat, the best type depends on the server's hardware:
- Lots of CPU — run a miner.
- Lots of RAM — run spam.
- Lots of bandwidth — run warez.
It's a per-server call, not a rule you apply everywhere. Spam especially is gated by RAM: a server with very little memory earns almost nothing from spam no matter what, so check its RAM before planting one. Getting the split right usually matters more than getting the type perfect, so the real game is spreading many solo viruses across many servers rather than perfecting a handful.
None of this is worth sweating in your first few days, though. Early on, just install what you can where you can. Any virus on a server beats an empty one, and coverage matters more than tuning while you're still finding your feet. Save the type-by-type optimizing for once you've got all three earners and enough servers to make it worth the effort.
For the actual numbers, which type wins on which server in the current round, see the virus switching reference.
The miner is the only earner paid in Bitcoin instead of cash, and its coin payout isn't fixed. The game scales the mining rate against the live Bitcoin price. When BTC is high you earn fewer coins, and when it's low you earn more. The dollar value of what you mine stays about the same either way.
The advanced virus guide goes deeper on this dynamic Bitcoin scaling if you want it.
A virus always earns from the host's current hardware, read fresh every time you collect. Upgrade a server you control and your virus picks up the gain on the next sweep, no reinstall needed. The flip side: if a host gets DDoSed down, earnings there drop right away even while your Hacked Database still shows the old stats.
Viruses don't last forever either. A server loses the viruses on it to a heavy DDoS that shrinks its disk, to someone's antivirus, or to a reset from a timer or IP change. Check your Hacked Database now and then and reinstall whatever's gone missing.
| Band | Version (approx.) | Target servers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | v1.0–v1.5 | Low-end hardware or bandwidth, and reset-prone servers | Good for spraying quickly |
| Medium | v7.0–v10.0 | Middling stats, or overcrowded servers | Situational, when a large virus isn't viable |
| Large | v15.0+ | High-end servers with plenty of disk and RAM | Preferred when possible |