Pit Virus

Virus Name: Pit Aliases: Pit.611.A V Status: New Discovery: January, 1995 Symptoms: .COM file growth; file date/time changes Origin: Unknown Eff Length: 611 - 620 Bytes Type Code: PNCK - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector Detection Method: F-Prot, ViruScan, IBMAV, AVTK, Sweep, NAVDX, VAlert, NAV, ChAV, NShld, NProt, IBMAV/N, AVTK/N, Sweep/N, NAV/N, Innoc 4.0+ Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The Pit virus was received in January, 1995. Its origin or point of isolation is unknown. Pit is a non-resident, direct action infector of .COM files, including COMMAND.COM. When a program infected with the Pit virus is executed, this virus will infect all of the .COM files located in the current directory. Infected programs will have a file length increase of 611 to 620 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 have been updated to the current system date and time when infection occurred. The following text string is visible within the viral code in all infected files: "The Pit v1.20" It is unknown what the Pit virus does besides replicate. Known variant(s) of Pit are: Pit.611.B: Received in January, 1996, this is a minor variant of the Pit virus described above. It infects all of the .COM files in the current directory when an infected program is executed, increasing their length by 611 to 622 bytes. The virus will be located at the end of the file. The program's date and time in the DOS disk directory listing will have been updated to the current system date and time when infection occurred. The following text string is visible within the viral code: "02.1v tiP ehT" Some programs may fail to function properly once infected by this virus. Origin: Unknown January, 1996.