DarkFader
From PHWiki
While DarkFader at first was one of the central hackers making it possible to run homebrew code on the DS, in late 2005 he seemingly switched sides and turned into a "black hat".
He was heavily involved in the initial development of PassMe and FlashMe.
He was also the first to dump commercial DS roms [1]. Most likely he was also involved in Golden Sun Team, though to what extent remains unknown. It is also very likely that he was behind the first NDS Rom Dumper.
He produced the first DS Bricker, homebrew code specifically designed to damage any DS it is run on by overwriting parts of the DS firmware (hence turning your DS into nothing more useful than a brick). Planned to trick people into running the code by claiming it was some sort of 'rom loader', another variant of it claimed to be a hentai slideshow. Here's some quotes from #dsdev on EFNET at the time of release:
[01:41] <DarkFader> ok, bricks picture done [01:41] <DarkFader> now I need to finish the txt file [01:43] <DarkFader> http://akusho.xs4all.nl/**full url removed** [01:43] <DarkFader> spread that to romz forums [01:46] <Mithos|zZ> man this sux [01:47] <_vandal_> hehe, is romloader.zip a DS sabatouger? [01:47] <DarkFader> yep [01:47] <DarkFader> and also shows a nice brick wall
While DarkFader stated that he released the bricker to target pirates, many people are of the opinion that the bricker undermines the whole homebrew scene.
Firstly, it is clear that users can no longer safely run homebrew code unless they can be certain of a safe and reliable source.
Secondly, it supports the console manufacturers viewpoint that homebrew should be prevented by constant upgrading of firmware, etc, to avoid any possible exploits. Of course homebrew and piracy are often linked anyway. The bricker created bad publicity for sure.
Further, while one version of the Bricker indeed explicitly targeted users of 'r0m warez', the other was disguised as a homebrew-style (albeit 'hentai') slideshow program, meaning that someone with no intention of running pirated games could still become a victim of the malware. It is also possible that someone else could maliciously rename or alter the Bricker into another disguised form to further spread it.
It should be noted that while DarkFader created the Bricker he also created the tools that makes it possible to Undo the Bricker, though ironically the only "easy" way this can be done is with a DS which has already had its firmware replaced with an unofficial 'homebrew' one.
