Hamster Virus

Virus Name: Hamster Aliases: Turbo Hamster V Status: Rare Discovered: March, 1993 Symptoms: .COM file growth; COMMAND.COM file date/time may change Origin: Unknown Eff Length: 546 Bytes Type Code: PNCK - Parasitic Non-Resident .COM Infector Detection Method: F-Prot, ViruScan, AVTK, IBMAV, Sweep, NAV, NAVDX, VAlert, PCScan, ChAV, NShld, AVTK/N, Sweep/N, NProt, Innoc, IBMAV/N, NAV/N, LProt Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The Hamster, or Turbo Hamster, virus was submitted in March, 1993. Its origin or point of isolation is unknown, though it was provided by an individual in North America. Hamster is a non-resident, direct action infector of .COM programs, including COMMAND.COM. When a program infected with the Hamster virus is executed, the Hamster virus will infect one program in the current or a higher directory. Infected programs will have a file length increase of 546 bytes with the virus being located at the end of the file. The program's date and time in the DOS disk directory listing will usually not be altered, though in the case of COMMAND.COM, it may become altered to a date in the future. The following text strings are visible within the viral code in all Hamster infected programs: "..\*.COM" "Turbo Hamster Virus!" It is unknown what Hamster may do besides replicate.