V2P2 Virus

Virus Name: V2P2 Aliases: Chameleon V Status: Research Discovered: June, 1990 Symptoms: .COM file growth Origin: Minnesota, United States Eff Length: 1,426 - 2,157 Bytes Type Code: PNCK - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector Detection Method: NAV, AVTK, F-Prot, Sweep, IBMAV, NAVDX, VAlert, PCScan, ViruScan, ChAV, NShld, LProt, Sweep/N, Innoc, AVTK/N, NAV/N, NProt, IBMAV/N Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The V2P2 virus is a research virus written by Mark Washburn and distributed to some anti-viral program authors in June of 1990. This virus, according to its author, has not been released. This virus is a non-resident generic infector of .COM files. When a program infected with the V2P2 virus is executed, it will infect the first .COM file it finds in the current directory which is not infected with the virus. The virus adds its code to the end of the file, and the infected file's length will increase between 1,426 and 2,157 bytes. Like the 1260 virus, this virus uses a complex encryption method. In fact, the encryption used with the 1260 virus is one of several possible encryptions that V2P2 may produce. As a result, virus scanning software will often identify the 1260 virus in a file as being both 1260 and V2P2. This identification is entirely valid as 1260 is a special case of V2P2. See: 1260 Casper V2P6