Wharps Virus

Virus Name: Wharps Aliases: V Status: Rare Discovered: December, 1992 Symptoms: .COM file growth; message; buzzing on speaker; system hangs; file time seconds set to "62" Origin: Unknown Eff Length: 572 Bytes Type Code: PNCK - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector Detection Method: ViruScan, Sweep, AVTK, F-Prot, IBMAV, NAVDX, VAlert, NAV, PCScan, ChAV, NShld, Sweep/N, AVTK/N, LProt, IBMAV/N, Innoc, NAV/N Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The Wharps virus was submitted in December, 1992. Its origin or point of isolation is unknown. Wharps is a non-resident, direct action infector of .COM programs, including COMMAND.COM. When a program infected with the Wharps virus is executed, the Wharps virus will infect one .COM program located in the current directory. Infected programs will have a file length increase of 572 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 appear to be unaltered, but actually the seconds field in the file time will have been set to "62". The following text strings are encrypted within the Wharps viral code: "[wHaRpS]" "wHaRpS! It is 3:00 a.m. > ETERNAL" The second text string is displayed by the virus when an infected program is executed at 3:00 AM. System hangs will also frequently occur on infected systems.