|   | NIA #15 - The Zuc (Macintosh) VirusNOTICE: TO ALL CONCERNED Certain text files and messages contained on this site deal with activities and devices which would be in violation of various Federal, State, and local laws if actually carried out or constructed. The webmasters of this site do not advocate the breaking of any law. Our text files and message bases are for informational purposes only. We recommend that you contact your local law enforcement officials before undertaking any project based upon any information obtained from this or any other web site. We do not guarantee that any of the information contained on this system is correct, workable, or factual. We are not responsible for, nor do we assume any liability for, damages resulting from the use of any information on this site.
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 ???????????????????     ZUC VIRUS     ???????????????????
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 $_The ZUC Virus
 
 The ZUC virus was first discovered in Italy in March, 1990. It is named
 after the discoverer, Don Zucchini.
 
 ZUC only infects applications. It does not infect system files or data
 files. Applications do not have to be run to become infected.
 
 ZUC was timed to activate on March 2, 1990. Before that date it only
 spread from application to application. After that date, approximately
 90 seconds after an infected application is run, the cursor begins to
 behave unusually whenever the mouse button is held down. The cursor
 moves diagonally across the screen, changing direction and bouncing
 like a billiard ball whenever it reaches any of the four sides of the
 screen. The cursor stops moving when the mouse button is released.
 
 The behavior of the ZUC virus is similar to that of a desk accessory
 named Bouncy. The virus and the desk accessory are different, and
 they should not be confused. The desk accessory does not spread, and
 it is not a virus. ZUC does spread, and it is a virus.
 
 ZUC has two noticeable side effects. On some Macintoshes it causes the
 desktop pattern to change. It also often causes long delays and an
 unusually large amount of disk activity when infected applications are
 opened.
 
 ZUC can spread over a network from individual Macintoshes to servers
 and from servers to individual Macintoshes.
 
 Except for the unusual cursor behavior, ZUC does not attempt to do any
 damage.
 
 $_Disinfectant 1.7
 
 Disinfectant 1.7 is a new release of our free Macintosh virus
 detection and repair utility.
 
 Version 1.7 recognizes the new ZUC virus. Thanks to Don Zucchini and
 Francesco Giagnorio for discovering and reporting this new virus.
 
 Vaccine is not effective against ZUC. GateKeeper 1.1.1, however, is
 effective against ZUC.
 
 ZUC does not change the last modification date when it infects a file,
 so you cannot use the last modification dates in the Disinfectant
 report to trace the source of a ZUC infection.
 
 $_Other Changes in Version 1.7
 
 Some people have used ResEdit to add a copy of the standard system WDEF
 0 resource to Desktop files in an attempt to inoculate their disks
 against the WDEF virus, even though we do not recommend this practice.
 Version 1.6 incorrectly reported that such Desktop files were infected
 by an unknown strain of WDEF. This problem has been fixed in version
 1.7.
 
 Some of the nVIR clones have offensive names. These names appeared in
 plain text in various resources in Disinfectant version 1.6, and caused
 concern for some people who discovered them using ResEdit or a file
 editor. Version 1.7 encodes the resources so that the names do not
 appear in plain text.
 
 Version 1.6 contained an error which could cause crashes, hangs,
 unexpected error messages, or other unusual behavior in some
 circumstances. The error is corrected in version 1.7.
 
 $_How to Get a Copy of Version 1.7
 
 Disinfectant 1.7 is available now via anonymous FTP from site
 acns.nwu.edu [129.105.49.1].  It will also be available soon on
 sumex-aim, rascal, comp.binaries.mac, CompuServe, Genie, Delphi, BIX,
 MacNet, America Online, Calvacom, AppleLink, and other popular sources
 for free and shareware software.
 
 Macinstosh users who do not have access to bulletin boards,
 networks, user groups, or online services may obtain a copy of
 Disinfectant by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope and an
 800K floppy disk to the author at the address below.
 
 John Norstad
 Academic Computing and Network Services
 Northwestern University
 2129 Sheridan Road
 Evanston, IL 60208
 
 Bitnet: jln@nuacc
 Internet: [email protected]
 CompuServe: 76666,573
 AppleLink: A0173
 
 $_SAM
 
 SAM Intercept can also prevent infection by the ZUC virus (at least
 version 2.0 with "standard" or higher protection turned on).  The
 information below was provided by the author of SAM to the Virus-L
 list and comp.virus.
 - - - - - -
 For SAM 2.0 users:
 
 A new virus has recently been discovered (now named ZUC). If you
 happen to run across the ZUC with SAM 2.0, you can expect to see the
 following.
 
 1) If you are running in standard, advanced, or custom levels, SAM
 will alert you to ZUC's attempt to change CODE resources within
 applications when ZUC is trying to spread itself. Denying this attempt
 with SAM keeps the infection from spreading.
 
 2) If you have previously inoculated your applications with Virus
 Clinic 2.0, then if ZUC has infected any files since inoculation (if,
 for instance, you had SAM Intercept turned off or set to basic level),
 then SAM will alert you to an inoculation discrepancy when you try to
 launch the infected file.
 
 3) SAM Virus Clinic will also alert you to a checksum change to any
 infected files if you have turned on checksumming in the Virus Clinic
 scans.
 
 4) You can configure SAM (both Virus Clinic and Intercept) to find ZUC
 during scans and application launches with the new virus definition
 feature. Using the Add Virus Definition option in Virus Clinic, create
 a new one with these fields:
 
 Virus Name:   ZUC
 Resource Type:   CODE
 Resource ID:   1
 Resource Size:   Any
 Search String:   4E56FF74A03641FA04D25290    (hexadecimal)
 String Offset:   Any
 
 You can then add this definition to both Virus Clinic and SAM
 Intercept.
 
 One other note: SAM 2.0 also repairs files infected with multiple
 viruses.
 
 Paul Cozza
 SAM Author
 
 $_EOF
 
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