Swedish Boys Virus
Virus Name: Swedish Boys
Aliases: Data Molester, Headache, Swedish, Why Windows
V Status: Rare
Discovered: June, 1992
Symptoms: .COM file growth; file date/time changes; files deleted;
disk corruption
Origin: Sweden
Eff Length: 457, 459, or 538 Bytes (depending on variant present)
Type Code: PNCK - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector
Detection Method: F-Prot, ViruScan, AVTK, Sweep, IBMAV, PCScan,
NAV, NAVDX, VAlert, ChAV,
NShld, Sweep/N, NProt, AVTK/N, LProt, NAV/N,
IBMAV/N, Innoc
Removal Instructions: Delete infected programs
General Comments:
Swedish Boys is a group of initially three viruses received from
Sweden in June, 1992. These viruses are all non-resident, direct
action infectors of .COM files, including COMMAND.COM. Depending
on the variant present, they may be destructive.
The Swedish Boys viruses are:
Data Molester: The Data Molester virus is a non-resident, direct
action infector of .COM programs, including COMMAND.COM.
It will infect all .COM files located in the current
directory when an infected program is executed. Infected
programs will have a file length increase of 538 bytes with
the virus being located at the end of the file. The file's
date and time in the DOS disk directory listing will not
be altered. The following text strings are encrypted
within the virus, and are not visible in infected files:
":+:+ The Data Molester Virus V1.00 +:+:"
"The Vile One / The BetaBoys Development Corporation."
"*.COM"
Data Molester contains code to overwrite the C: drive
root directory and file allocation table.
Origin: Sweden June, 1992.
Headache: The Headache virus is a non-resident, direct action
infector of .COM programs, including COMMAND.COM. It will
infect one .COM program in the current directory each time
an infected program is executed. Infected programs will
have a file length increase of 459 bytes with the virus
being located at the end of the file. The program's date
and time will be updated to the current system date and
time when infection occurred. The following text strings
can be found within the viral code in all infected files:
"*.COM"
"-+( Severe Head-Ache Virus V2.oo )+-"
"Created by The Vile One & MaZ"
"Copyright (c)1992 The BetaBoys Development Corp"
"-Sweden 04/19/92"
Origin: Sweden June, 1992.
Swedish Boys.Headache.441: The Swedish Boys.Headache.441 virus is
a non-resident, direct action infector of .COM programs,
including COMMAND.COM. It will infect one .COM program in the
current directory each time an infected program is executed.
Infected programs will have a file length increase of 441
bytes with the virus being located at the end of the file.
The program's date and time will be updated to the current
system date and time when infection occurred. The following
text strings can be found within the viral code in all
infected files:
"*.COM"
"Severe Head-Ache Virus V2.oo )+-"
"Created by The Vile One & MaZ"
"Copyright (c)1992 The BetaBoys Development Corp"
"-Sweden 04/19/92"
Origin: Sweden July, 1994.
Why Windows: The Why Windows virus is a non-resident, direct
action infector of .COM programs, including COMMAND.COM.
It will infect one .COM program located in the current
directory each time an infected program is executed.
Infected programs will have a file length increase of
459 bytes with the virus being located at the end of the
program. The file'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
strings can be found in the viral code in all Why Windows
infected programs:
"*.com"
"C:\Command.Com C:\Autoexec.Bat C:\Config.Sys"
"\windows\win.com"
"Why Windows (c)1992 MaZ / BetaBoys B.B"
Why Windows is a destructive virus. It will attempt to
delete the file \windows\win.com. Additionally, on
February 23rd of any year it will attempt to delete
C:\Autoexec.Bat. On February 24th of any year, it will
attempt to delete C:\Config.Sys. Lastly, on February 25th
of any year it will attempt to overwrite the C: drive root
directory and file allocation tables.
Origin: Sweden June, 1992.