Got-You Virus
Virus Name: Got-You
Aliases:
V Status: Rare
Discovered: September, 1991
Symptoms: .EXE growth; hidden files created; changes printer setup;
cancels network printer redirection; unexpected printing of
display contents; last disk drive can't be accessed
Origin: Belgium
Eff Length: 3,052 - 3,067 Bytes
Type Code: PNE - Parasitic Non-Resident .EXE Infector
Detection Method: ViruScan, Sweep, AVTK, F-Prot, IBMAV, PCScan,
NAV, NAVDX, VAlert, ChAV,
LProt, Sweep/N, NShld, Innoc, NProt, AVTK/N,
NAV/N, IBMAV/N
Removal Instructions: Delete infected files
General Comments:
The Got-You virus was submitted in September, 1991, from Belgium.
Got-You is a non-resident, direct action infector of .EXE files
that only replicates on drives C: through Z: during the first half
of the year. During the second half of the year, it activates.
When a program infected with Got-You is executed, the virus will
check the system date to determine what the current month is. If
the current month is January thru June, the virus will randomly
select a hard disk drive from C: thru Z: where it will search for
an .EXE program to infect. The virus searches down through the
directory structure, and infects the first uninfected .EXE program
it locates.
Programs infected with Got-You will increase in size by 3,052 to
3,067 bytes, with the virus being located at the end of the infected
file. The file's date and time in the disk directory will not be
altered. Infected files will contain the following text string:
"G OT YOU"
From July through December, Got-You will not replicate. During this
period, the virus activates, performing any one of five different
behaviors. Which of these behaviors occurs is randomly selected by
the virus. The five behaviors are:
1. The virus will check to see if the computer is on a network and
has access to a network printer. If the computer has access to
the network printer, it will change its setup.
2. The virus will check to see if the computer is on a network, and
will cancel any redirection which allows access to a network
printer.
3. The virus will print the computer's display contents to the
printer, similar to the user having pressed the print screen
key.
4. The virus will determine what drives are available by using the
DOS list of lists information, and disable the last drive so it
is not accessible.
5. The virus will create a hidden, 10,240 byte file on a randomly
selected drive. This file will be named "G OT YOU. x ", and will
contain random data from memory.
Some code exists in the virus for deleting files, though it is not
called within the virus.
Got-You contains code to check if anti-viral monitoring packages are
memory resident, and will not replicate if it thinks one is present.
To do this, the virus checks for interrupts commonly monitored to be
in the same segment of memory. It also contains code to try to
determine if a debugger is being used, and if found, will not
replicate. Lastly, there is timer code to keep the virus from
searching too long for a file to infect.