Internal Virus
Virus Name: Internal
Aliases: 1381
V Status: Common
Discovery: June, 1990
Symptoms: .EXE growth; cascade of screen contents; message
Origin:
Eff Length: 1,381 - 1,395 Bytes
Type Code: PNE - Parasitic Non-Resident .EXE Infector
Detection Method: ViruScan, NAV, AVTK, F-Prot, Sweep, IBMAV,
NAVDX, VAlert, PCScan, ChAV,
NShld, LProt, Sweep/N, Innoc, NProt, AVTK/N,
NAV/N, IBMAV/N
Removal Instructions: Delete infected files
General Comments:
The Internal, or 1381, virus was isolated in June, 1990. It is a
non-resident generic .EXE infector.
Each time a program infected with the Internal virus is executed,
the virus will attempt to infect one other .EXE file on the current
drive, though it does not always infect a file. Once infected, files
will have increased in length by between 1,381 and 1,395 bytes.
The virus can be found at the end of infected files. Infected files
will also contain the following text strings:
"INTERNAL ERROR 02CH.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR HARDWARE MANUFACTURER IMMEDIATELY !
DO NOT FORGET TO REPORT THE ERROR CODE !"
The Internal virus activates when an infected program is executed 90
days after the original infection date. At that time, the virus
will produce a cascade of the contents of the system display to the
bottom of the screen, and display the above message. The virus will
then remove itself from the program the user was attempting to
execute.
Known variant(s) of 1381 are:
1381-B: (Internal-B) Similar to the original Internal virus,
this is a minor variant.
Internal-1459: Based on the Internal virus described above, this
variant adds 1,459 to 1,473 bytes to the .EXE programs it
infects. The following text is encrypted within the viral
code, and not visible within infected programs:
"INTERNAL ERROR 02EH.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR HARDWARE MANUFACTURER IMMEDIATELY !
DO NOT FORGET TO REPORT THE ERROR CODE !"
It activates in the same manner as the original virus, with
the cascading effect of the screen contents, message, and
disinfection of the program the user was executing.
Origin: Unknown November, 1992.