03 Apr 2001
Computer security experts have identified the first virus capable of infecting both Windows and Linux operating systems.
W32.Winux is a so-called 'proof of concept' virus sent to antivirus company Central Command by an anonymous user. The virus is not destructive and does not appear to have infected any computers as yet.
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Keith Peer, chief executive at Ohio-based Central Command, said: "We didn't think this was possible. It's a real step forward for virus writers."
The worm spreads by infecting executable programs that run either on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT and 2000 or on the various editions of Linux. It does not carry a destructive payload and has not yet been seen in the wild.
However, now that the source code exists, others may alter the virus to make it malicious. Peer explained that the virus was written in the primitive "assembly language", allowing it to infect Windows and Linux programs.
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