Kit Virus

Virus Name: Kit Aliases: V Status: Rare Discovered: April, 1992 Symptoms: .COM & .EXE growth; decrease in total system and available free memory Origin: Unknown Eff Length: 2,383 - 2,446 Bytes Type Code: PRhAK - Parasitic Resident .COM & .EXE Infector Detection Method: ViruScan, F-Prot, AVTK, Sweep, IBMAV, NAV, NAVDX, VAlert, PCScan, ChAV, NShld, LProt, Sweep/N, Innoc, NProt, AVTK/N, NAV/N, IBMAV/N Removal Instructions: Delete infected files General Comments: The Kit virus was received in April, 1992. Its origin is unknown. It is a memory resident infector of .COM and .EXE programs, including COMMAND.COM. The first time a Kit infected program is executed, the Kit virus will install itself memory resident at the top of system memory but below the 640K DOS boundary. Total system and available free memory, as indicated by the DOS CHKDSK program, will have decreased by 2,400 bytes. Interrupts 1C and 21 will be hooked. Once the Kit virus is memory resident, it will infect .COM and .EXE programs when they are executed. If COMMAND.COM is executed, it will also become infected. .COM programs infected with the Kit virus will have a file length increase of 2,383 to 2,384 bytes on initial infection. Kit will reinfect .COM files, adding an additional 2,384 bytes with each reinfection. The virus will be located at the beginning of the infected file. .EXE programs infected with the Kit virus will have a file length increase of 2,416 to 2,446 bytes with the initial infection. As with .COM files, Kit reinfects .EXE programs adding 2,416 bytes with each reinfection. Kit will be located at the end of the program. It does not alter the file's date and time in the DOS disk directory listing. There are no text strings visible within the viral code in infected programs. It is unknown what Kit may do besides replicate.