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Virus Bulletin, July 91

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Virus Bulletin, July 91 July 1991 ISSN 0956-9979 THE AUTHORITATIVE INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATION ON COMPUTER VIRUS PREVENTION, RECOGNITION AND REMOVAL Editor: Edward Wilding Technical Editor: Fridrik Skulason, University of Iceland Editorial Advisors: Jim Bates, Bates Associates, UK, Phil Crewe, Fingerprint, UK, David Ferbrache, ISIS Ltd., UK, Ray Glath, RG Software Inc., USA, Hans Gliss, Datenschutz Berater, West Germany, Ross M. Greenberg, Software Concepts Design, USA, Dr. Harold Joseph Highland, Compulit Microcomputer Security Evaluation Laboratory, USA, Dr. Jan Hruska, Sophos, UK, Dr. Keith Jackson, Walsham Contracts, UK, Owen Keane, Barrister, UK, John Laws, RSRE, UK, David T. Lindsay, Digital Equipment Corporation, UK, Yisrael Radai, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, Martin Samociuk, Network Security Management, UK, John Sherwood, Sherwood Associates, UK, Prof. Eugene Spafford, Purdue University, USA, Dr. Peter Tippett, Certus International Corporation, USA, Dr. Ken Wong, PA Consulting Group, UK, Ken van Wyk, CERT, USA. CONTENTS SCANNER UPDATE IBM Triumphs Amidst the ‘Vapourware’ 34 EDITORIAL 2 Results Table 35 TECHNICAL NOTES 3 TUTORIAL PRODUCT REVIEWS Fixed Disk Boot Sectors and 1. SafeWord Virus-Safe 36 Post-Attack Recovery 5 2. Knoxcard: Anti-Virus Hardware 38 Virus Bulletin Education, Training & Awareness Presentations 9 3. Trend Micro Devices’ PC-cillin 40 LETTERS SHAREWARE REVIEW VB Signatures With IBM’s Virscan 10 PC Virus Index 42 Vetting Procedure 10 KNOWN IBM PC VIRUSES 12 END-NOTES & NEWS 44 VIRUS BULLETIN ©1991 Virus Bulletin Ltd, 21 The Quadrant, Abingdon Science Park, Oxon, OX14 3YS, England. Tel (+44) 235 555139. /90/$0.00+2.50 This bulletin is available only to qualified subscribers. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, magnetic, optical or photocopying, without the prior written permission of the publishers. Page 2 VIRUS BULLETIN July 1991 demise of virus-specific detection, recently declared his intention EDITORIAL ‘to be the last off the cliff’. Estimates from various software developers as to how long their virus scanning programs can remain effective vary from between eighteen months to five Two Years On... years. If these software developers had listened to Dr. Fred Cohen (who predicted this and other fundamental truths years Virus Bulletin enters its third volume at a time of escalating crisis. ago) they would have saved themselves much heartache. In the course of talking to anti-virus software developers, police officers and computer security managers, both in Europe and the In terms of numbers and propagation, the virus problem is United States, it is becoming clear that the incidence of real world getting out of control - a fact with which the ‘virus industry’ is computer virus infections is increasing at an alarming rate. having to come to terms. However, in terms of good housekeep- Companies active in this field (including VB itself) are reporting a ing and prevention the problem remains eminently manageable. noticeable increase in the number of genuine virus attacks. But as Dr. Peter Tippett said earlier this year: ‘It is eminently manageable - it’s also eminently badly managed.’ The number of virus samples (which includes a veritable menagerie of assorted ‘flora and fauna’) always was something of an academic curiosity, of most interest to the ‘schoolboy The Lunatics Are Taking Over The Asylum collector’ mentality - it’s hard to believe that two years ago Two unusual anti-virus packages arrived on the doormats of VB computer virus samples really were coveted rather like marbles or correspondents last month. Neither is particularly efficacious, but prize conkers. However, an exponential curve is now clearly they have one thing in common - they are both developed by drawn on the graph - new computer virus samples are appearing virus writers. daily and the emergence of virus exchange Bulletin Board Systems and the widespread dissemination of source code will Mark Washburn, self-confessed author of the V2P1, V2P2 and only serve to fan the flames. V2P6 viruses, has released his SECURE package. More alarmingly, Abacus - the Michigan-based publishing company - All of this, of course, is of no interest unless these samples has released VIRUS SECURE FOR WINDOWS by none other manifest themselves in the real world. Unfortunately, this is than Ralf Burger. exactly what is happening, with more and more different specimens being encountered. Summing up this alarming state of As seasoned VB readers will know, Burger is directly responsi- affairs, one cynical software developers (who shall remain ble for two virus families - the Vienna group and the Burger/ anonymous) was heard to say: “With all these real viruses hitting Virdem group. He provided the full source code of a number of real companies, who knows - we may eventually have to provide computer viruses in Computer Viruses A High-Tech Disease, a our customers with a real product and real technical support!” virus writer’s recipe book published initially by German publishing house Data Becker in 1988 and in a translation Under the strain of exponential virus development and demands subsequently printed in the United States by Abacus. It is from corporate end-users who are now aware of the extent of the rumoured that German authorities have foiled Burger’s attempt to problem, some anti-virus software developers have adopted the publish a sequel in that country; whether or not similar pressure strategy of the ostrich - by burying their heads in the sand and is put on Abacus remains to be seen. refusing to update their virus-specific products, they believe that the problem will simply go away. Some of the newcomers to this It is inevitable that would-be virus writers will buy such books or field (those companies which have ‘jumped on the bandwagon’), otherwise obtain such published viral source code. Both upon realising the enormity of the task, must dearly regret the day Washburn and Burger are simultaneously fuelling the computer that their marketing advisers persuaded them to undertake it. virus phenomenon and profiting from it. No sensible person can condone, or in any way excuse, these individuals’ duplicitous The major problems are associated with virus-specific solutions. behaviour. Recent calls to ‘accept them back into the fold’ should Ultimately, scanning software is intellectually bankrupt as a be summarily dismissed. As it is not the editorial policy of this means to generic detection. This has been a persistent theme journal to promote or lend credibility to those who indulge in within the pages of this journal - back in 1989, Keith Jackson such schizophrenic activities, neither package will be reviewed. wrote: ‘Virus-specific methods are in the end doomed to failure... Third parties afflicted by computer viruses connected with the they come into their own when it is thought that a virus infection publication of virus source code should consider seeking legal exists and needs to be eradicated.’ Surprisingly, his statement advice about the feasibility of sueing the publisher concerned. was then the subject of heated debate. The fact that Dr. Jackson Abacus have been informed in writing of the dangers associated has now been vindicated is not so much testament to his powers with published source code and the proven links between of augury as to his good common sense. Burger’s first book and subsequent computer virus outbreaks - they cannot plead ignorance. Some software developers will privately concede the futility of this approach - one major developer, recognising the inevitable VIRUS BULLETIN ©1991 Virus Bulletin Ltd, 21 The Quadrant, Abingdon Science Park, Oxon, OX14 3YS, England. Tel (+44) 235 555139. /90/$0.00+2.50 This bulletin is available only to qualified subscribers. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, magnetic, optical or photocopying, without the prior written permission of the publishers. July 1991 VIRUS BULLETIN Page 3 This does not apply today - the ever-increasing number of new TECHNICAL NOTES variants of older viruses has made this method redundant. So, the answer to the question: ‘What are the offsets good for?’ Upset Offset appears to be ‘Not much.’ In fact publication of this information appears to be generating confusion rather than reducing it. The The table of known IBM PC viruses, published in this edition, hexadecimal patterns remain valid for detection when used in contains a search pattern for almost all of the viruses listed. Each conjunction with a ‘secure’ byte-by-byte file search, but highly pattern is followed by a three-digit hexadecimal offset. specific detection using the published offsets is no longer recommended. This number is the position of the search pattern within the virus body. Unfortunately, there is no simple relationship between the The offset is yet another victim of exponential virus development: offset and the position of the pattern within an infected file. the sheer number of virus samples and a multitude of infection strategies have rendered further publication of this information In the case of viruses located at the beginning of .COM files the useless for the majority of VB’s subscribers. A decision as to pattern offset is equal to the file offset. As an example, take the whether to continue publishing offsets will be taken in August. pattern for the Amstrad (Pixel family) virus: C706 0E01 0000 2E8C 0610 012E FF2E 0E01 ; Offset Selectivity 114 Selectivity is the process whereby developers of virus scanning In every file infected with this particular variant, this pattern can programs omit search routines for computer virus samples on the be expected to be found at offset 114H. basis that the virus poses no threat, is extinct or is a research or ‘lab’ virus never likely to be encountered in the wild. The recent The relationship is more complicated in the case of viruses which decision by McAfee Associates to exclude detection data for 70 append their code to the files they infect.
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