Swap Virus


 Virus Name:  Swap 
 Aliases:     Falling Letters Boot, Israeli Boot 
 V Status:    Rare 
 Discovered:  August, 1989 
 Symptoms:    Graphic display; BSC (floppy only); TSR; bad cluster 
 Origin:      Israel 
 Eff Length:  N/A 
 Type Code:   RsF - Resident Floppy Boot Sector Infector 
 Detection Method:  [Not in Certification Set] 
 Removal Instructions:  MDisk, or DOS SYS command 
 
 General Comments: 
       The Swap virus, or Israeli Boot virus, was first reported in August 
       1989.  This virus is a memory resident boot sector infector that 
       only infects floppies.  The floppy's boot sector is infected the 
       first time it is accessed.  One bad cluster will be written on 
       track 39, sectors 6 and 7 with the head unspecified.  If track 39, 
       sectors 6 and 7, are not empty, the virus will not infect the 
       disk.  Once the virus is memory resident, it uses 2K or RAM.  The 
       actual length of the viral code is 740 bytes. 
 
       The Swap virus activates after being memory resident for 10 
       minutes.  A cascading effect of letters and characters on the 
       system monitor is then seen, similar to the cascading effect of 
       the Cascade and Traceback viruses. 
 
       The virus was named the Swap virus because the first isolated case 
       had the following phrase located at bytes 00B7-00E4 on track 39, 
       sector 7: 
 
           "The Swapping-Virus. (C) June, 1989 by the CIA" 
 
       However, this phrase is not found on diskettes which have been 
       freshly infected by the Swap virus. 
 
       A diskette infected with the Swap virus can be easily identified by 
       looking at the boot sector with a sector editor, such as Norton 
       Utilities.  The error messages which normally occur at the end of 
       the boot sector will not be there, instead the start of the virus 
       code is present.  The remainder of the viral code is located on 
       track 39, sectors 6 and 7. 

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