VX-163 Virus

Virus Name: VX-163 Aliases: V Status: Rare Discovered: December, 1992 Symptoms: .COM file growth; system hangs Origin: Unknown Eff Length: 163 Bytes Type Code: PNCK - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector Detection Method: ViruScan, Sweep, AVTK, F-Prot, NAVDX, ChAV, IBMAV, NAV, VAlert, PCScan, NShld, Sweep/N, AVTK/N, LProt, IBMAV/N, Innoc, NAV/N, NProt Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The VX-163 virus was submitted in December, 1992. Its origin or point of isolation is unknown. VX-163 is a non-resident, direct action infector of .COM programs, including COMMAND.COM. When a program infected with the VX-163 virus is executed, the VX-163 virus will infect one .COM program located in the current directory. Infected programs will have a file length increase of 163 bytes with the virus being located at the beginning of the file. The program's date and time in the DOS disk directory listing will not be altered. The following text string is visible within the viral code in all VX-163 infected programs: "*.com" VX-163 does not infect .COM programs in the current directory once the first five .COM programs in the directory have become infected. VX-163 doesn't do anything besides replicate, though system hangs frequently occur when infected programs are executed.