OT: Virii

From: Clint Wolff <vaxman_at_qwest.net>
Date: Wed Jul 18 20:36:37 2001

The zero byte length probably means the length of the infected file
changes by zero bytes... IE it overwrites some bits of the program.

Clint

On Tue, 17 Jul 2001 Glenatacme_at_aol.com wrote:

> OT, yes (maybe some virii are >10 years old??) but related to programming in
> general. Plus, if no one on this list knows the answer, then there probably
> *isn't* an answer ;>)
>
> I received a virus in an e-mail attachment a few minutes ago. The sender is
> a wholesale supplier I'm acquainted with. NAV spotted the
> "W32.Magistr.corrupt" virus, could not repair the infected item, and asked
> for permission to delete the item, which I granted.
>
> I looked this virus up in the list of 50K+ virii that NAV currently claims to
> cover. No information was available, except that this virus is rare, it
> infects .exe files, and it is zero bytes in length.
>
> Now, I've cranked out a couple of boatloads of code over the last 19 years,
> and the smallest useful program I ever wrote was 3 bytes in length. It's
> easy enough to create a zero byte file, but as far as I can tell such a file
> can't *do* anything.
>
> How can I write a zero-byte program? How does NAV identify this virus if
> it's zero bytes in length? What real threat to my PC is an e-mail-propagated
> virus of length zero?
>
> WTF???
>
> TIA,
>
> Glen
> 0/0
>
>
Received on Wed Jul 18 2001 - 20:36:37 BST

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