Virus.Boot.Cicada

Parent class: VirWare

Viruses and worms are malicious programs that self-replicate on computers or via computer networks without the user being aware; each subsequent copy of such malicious programs is also able to self-replicate. Malicious programs which spread via networks or infect remote machines when commanded to do so by the “owner” (e.g. Backdoors) or programs that create multiple copies that are unable to self-replicate are not part of the Viruses and Worms subclass. The main characteristic used to determine whether or not a program is classified as a separate behaviour within the Viruses and Worms subclass is how the program propagates (i.e. how the malicious program spreads copies of itself via local or network resources.) Most known worms are spread as files sent as email attachments, via a link to a web or FTP resource, via a link sent in an ICQ or IRC message, via P2P file sharing networks etc. Some worms spread as network packets; these directly penetrate the computer memory, and the worm code is then activated. Worms use the following techniques to penetrate remote computers and launch copies of themselves: social engineering (for example, an email message suggesting the user opens an attached file), exploiting network configuration errors (such as copying to a fully accessible disk), and exploiting loopholes in operating system and application security. Viruses can be divided in accordance with the method used to infect a computer:

• file viruses
• boot sector viruses
• macro viruses
• script viruses

Any program within this subclass can have additional Trojan functions. It should also be noted that many worms use more than one method in order to spread copies via networks.

Class: Virus

Viruses replicate on the resources of the local machine. Unlike worms, viruses do not use network services to propagate or penetrate other computers. A copy of a virus will reach remote computers only if the infected object is, for some reason unrelated to the virus function, activated on another computer. For example: when infecting accessible disks, a virus penetrates a file located on a network resource a virus copies itself to a removable storage device or infects a file on a removable device a user sends an email with an infected attachment.

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Platform: Boot

No platform description

Description

Technical Details

It is a dangerous memory resident boot virus. It hooks INT 13h and writes itself into the MBR of hard drive and boot sectors of floppy disks. On July, 10th it erases the hard drive sectors and displays:

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
�                                                      +--------------+�
�   ______            ___      ___                     �Golden Cicada ++
�  ___  ___   _____   ___   ______    _____   ___ ___  �    Virus!    ��
�  ___       ___ ___  ___  ___ ___   ___ ___  ________ � Version Pro. ��
�  ___ ____  ___ ___  ___  ___ ___   ____     ___  ___ �June 10, 1994.++
�   ______    _____   ___   _______   _____   ___  ___ +--------------+�
�                                                                      �
�         ______                              ___             ___      �
�        ___  ___  ___   _____   _____     ______    _____    ___      �
�        ___            ___     ___ ___   ___ ___   ___ ___   ___      �
�        ___  ___  ___  ___     ___ ___   ___ ___   ___ ___            �
�         ______   ___   _____   _______   _______   _______  ___      �
�                                                                      �
�----------------------------------------------------------------------�
�   Something wonderful was happened! Your PC is now Stoned! And your  �
� PC was out of order that all the doctor's efforts were in vain! Ha!  �
� Ha! Ha! Ha! Serve you right!! I dont' want to damage your hard disk! �
� But...write some trash into your hard disk now!! Well! Beware of this�
� virus, don't copy software without any payments! Okay! Goodbye!!.... �
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Golden Cicada Virus Version Pro.
(C) Copyright CVEX Corp.,1994.
All rights reserved.
Made in Taiwan!

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