Pepper Virus
Virus Name: Pepper
Aliases: Pepper.529
V Status: New
Discovered: January, 1996
Symptoms: .COM file growth
Origin: Unknown
Eff Length: 529 Bytes
Type Code: PNC - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector
Detection Method: AVTK, VAlert, PCScan, NAV, NAVDX, ViruScan, IBMAV,
F-Prot, ChAV,
AVTK/N, NAV/N, NShld, IBMAV/N, LProt, NProt, Innoc 4.0+
Removal Instructions: Delete infected files
General Comments:
The Pepper or Pepper.529 virus was received in January, 1996. Its
origin or point of isolation is unknown. Pepper is a non-resident,
direct action infector of .COM files, but not COMMAND.COM.
When a program infected with the Pepper virus is executed, this
virus will infect one .COM file located in the current directory.
Infected files will have a file length increase of 529 bytes with
the virus being located at the end of the file. The program's date
and time in the DOS disk directory listing will not be altered. The
following text strings are encrypted within the viral code:
"*.COM"
"[pepper] yesterday once more"
"????????COM"
It is unknown what the Pepper virus may do besides replicate.