Lost_Geek Virus


 Virus Name:  Lost_Geek 
 Aliases:     Lost_Geek.734 
 V Status:    New 
 Discovered:  January, 1996 
 Symptoms:    .COM file growth; .COM files created; 
              "Out of memory" message displayed; programs fail to function 
 Origin:      Unknown 
 Eff Length:  734 Bytes 
 Type Code:   SPNAK - Parasitic & Companion Non-Resident .COM & .EXE Infector 
 Detection Method:  F-Prot, AVTK, IBMAV, NAV, NAVDX, ViruScan, ChAV, 
                    AVTK/N, IBMAV/N, NAV/N, NShld, Innoc 
 Removal Instructions:  Delete infected files 
 
 General Comments: 
       The Lost_Geek virus was received in January, 1996.  Its origin or 
       point of isolation is unknown.  Lost_Geek is a non-resident, 
       direct action infector of .COM programs, including 
       COMMAND.COM.  It is also a spawning or companion virus which 
       infects .EXE files by direct action. 
 
       When a program infected with the Lost_Geek virus is executed, this 
       virus will infect up to eight .COM files located in the current 
       directory.  If all of the .COM file in the current directory were 
       previously infected with the virus, it will then proceed to infect 
       all of the .EXE files in the current directory. 
 
       Infected .COM files will have a file length increase of 734 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. 
 
       .EXE files are not actually altered by the Lost_Geek virus, but 
       instead a companion .COM file with the same base file name is 
       created.  These companion .COM files are 734 bytes in length and 
       contain the viral code.  The companion file's date and time in the 
       DOS disk directory listing will be the system date and time when they 
       were created. 
 
       The following text strings are visible with the viral code in 
       infected .COM files, as well as the 734 byte companion .COM files: 
 
           "GONEPATH.;\dos" 
           "Out of memory" 
           "Get lost, geek." 
 
       Programs infected with the Lost_Geek virus, either with a parasitic 
       or spawning/companion file infection, will not function properly. 
       The virus will display the second text string above as a message on 
       the system monitor and return the user to the DOS prompt.

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