Kaspersky warns of cross-platform virus proof of concept

[scuzzman]

APRIL 07, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) - Kaspersky Labs is reporting a new proof-of-concept virus capable of infecting both Windows and Linux systems.

The cross-platform virus is relatively simple and appears to have a low impact, according to Kaspersky. Even so, it could be a sign that virus writers are beginning to research ways of writing new code capable of infecting multiple platforms, said Shane Coursen, senior technical consultant at Kaspersky.

In a note on its Web site, the SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) in Bethesda, Md,. said the new virus “is a sign the cross-platform aspects are becoming important. As the developers of viruses continue to research this, we will see more cross-platform malware come about in the future.”

The new virus, which Kaspersky calls Virus.Linux.Bi.a/Virus.Win32.Bi.a, is written in assembler and infects only those files in the current directory. “However, it is interesting in that it is capable of infecting the different file formats used by Linux and Windows,” Kaspersky said.

Linkage.

[Scarecrow Man]

Ugh.. I've done assembler programming. I cannot imagine writing a virus in it.

Interesting to see how it can affect cross-platform though. Probably because Assembler is a language used to program memory addresses within a CPU . This is also why it cannot affect the MAC. But with MAC switching to Intel, this could also affect intel machines, no?

[scuzzman]

Techincally. But all this really does is delete files in the directory in which it's ran. Which means it's nothing more than a standard cross-platform program that does that. This does not mean, however, Linux is still immune. One should still remain patched - a computer is only as secure as its admin :)