06 What are the known viruses, their names, major symptoms and possible cures? (Computer virus)
Description
This article is from the Computer Viruses FAQ, by Nick FitzGerald n.fitzgerald@csc.canterbury.ac.nz with numerous contributions by others.
06 What are the known viruses, their names, major symptoms and possible cures? (Computer virus)
The reader should be aware that there is no universally accepted naming
convention for viruses, nor is there any standard means of testing. As
a consequence nearly *all* virus information is highly subjective and
open to interpretation and dispute.
There are several major sources of information on specific viruses.
Probably the largest one is Patricia Hoffman's hypertext VSUM. While
VSUM is quite complete it only covers PC viruses and it is regarded by
many in the antivirus field as being inaccurate, so we advise you not to
rely solely on it. It can be downloaded from most major archive sites.
A more precise source of information is the Computer Virus Catalog,
published by the Virus Test Center in Hamburg. It contains highly
technical descriptions of computer viruses for several platforms: DOS,
Mac, Amiga, Atari ST and Unix. Unfortunately, the DOS section is quite
incomplete. The CVC is available by anonymous FTP from
ftp.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (IP = 134.100.4.42), directory
pub/virus/texts/catalog. (A copy of the CVC is also available by
anonymous FTP on corsa.ucr.edu in the directory pub/virus-l/docs/vtc.)
Another small collection of good technical descriptions of PC viruses,
called CARObase is also available from ftp.informatik.uni-hamburg.de, in
the directory /pub/virus/texts/carobase.
A fourth source of information is the monthly Virus Bulletin, published
in the UK. Among other things, it gives detailed technical information
on viruses (see A8); a one year subscription, however, costs $395. US
subscriptions can be ordered by calling (203) 431 8720 (GMT-5/-4) or
writing to 590 Danbury Road, Ridgefield, CT 06877; for European
subscriptions, the number is +44 1235 555139 (GMT+0/-1) and the address
is: 21 The Quadrant, Abingdon, OXON, OX14 3YS, ENGLAND. General
enquiries can be sent to virusbtn@vax.ox.ac.uk.
Another source of information is the book "Virus Encyclopedia" which is
part of the printed documentation of Dr. Solomon's AntiVirus ToolKit (a
commercial DOS antivirus program). It is more complete than the CVC
list and just as accurate; however it lists only DOS viruses. This book
may be available separately
The on-line help system of the shareware antivirus product Anti-Virus
Pro contains a large and relatively exact collection of virus
descriptions and even includes demonstrations of several of the audio
and visual effects produced by some viruses. However the text can be
difficult to read because English is not the author's native tongue.
The WWW site www.datafellows.fi has an on-line, cross-referenced
database containing descriptions of about 1500 PC viruses, with an
emphasis on viruses "in the wild". Another network-accessible source of
information pertaining to viruses is provided by IBM AntiVirus, at
http://www.brs.ibm.com/ibmav.html or via gopher at the site
index.almaden.ibm.com (choose "IBM Computer Virus Information Center"
from the main menu).
An excellent source of information regarding Apple Macintosh viruses is
the on-line documentation in the freeware Disinfectant program by John
Norstad of Northwestern University. This is available at most Mac
archive sites.
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