Central Command, a leading provider of PC anti-virus software and computer security services, and its partners today remind computer users of the Win95.CIH (aka. Chernobyl), a malicious virus named after its author Chen Ing-Hau, which will activate on April 26th, the last Thursday of this month.
Since its discovery in 1998, the CIH virus has infected hundred of thousands of computers in Asian countries and other parts of the world. Because of its destructive capabilities, CIH has resulted in millions of dollars in damages and data lost worldwide over the past couple years. "What troubles me, is that detection for the CIH virus has been added nearly two years ago by a majority of the anti-virus software vendors and yet we still see CIH listed as a common infector," Said Steven Sundermeier Product Manager at Central Command Inc. "It is obvious that there is still a need for more education about virus prevention," concluded Sundermeier.
Details
Name: Win95.CIH
Aliases: Chernobyl, PE_CIH, Win32.CIH, W32/CIH.Spacefiller
Spread Method: By infecting 32bit PE EXE application files
OS: Windows 95, Windows 98
Origin: Taiwan
Risk: Medium
The virus installs itself into the Windows memory, and infects Portable Executable EXE files that are opened. On April 26th, the virus damages the computers by writing garbage instructions to the FLASH BIOS if the motherboard and chip sets are compatible with the virus. Additionally, the virus will then overwrite the data on all installed hard drives.
Central Command advises all computer users to visit www.avx.com to virus scan their computer using the free AVX online virus scanner prior to April 26th. The powerful AVX online virus scanner can detect and remove more than 50,000 viruses including Win95.CIH and many other malicious applications.
AVX virus protection applications are built around the flexible AVX plug-in technology that has been designed for integration across various operating systems and architectures. The cross platform technology allows AVX to be integrated into third party applications and multiple operating systems.
AVX Professional starts at $38.95, and a free 30-day trial version may be downloaded from www.avx.com or obtained by contacting Central Command toll-free at 866-2-GET-AVX (866-243-8289).
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