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Amiga Virus Encyclopedia
North Star 1 Virus
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===== Computer Virus Catalog 1.2: NORTH STAR I Virus (5-June-1990) ====
Entry...............: NORTH STAR I Antivirus Virus
Alias(es)...........: ---
Virus Strain........: NORTH STAR Antivirus Virus
Virus detected when.: December 1988
where.: Elmshorn, FRG
Classification......: system virus (bootblock), resident
Length of Virus.....: 1. length on storage medium: 1024 byte
2. length in RAM : 1024 byte
--------------------- Preconditions -----------------------------------
Operating System(s).: AMIGA-DOS
Version/Release.....: 1.2/33.166, 1.2/33.180 and 1.3/34.20
Computer model(s)...: AMIGA 500, AMIGA 1000, AMIGA 2000A, AMIGA 2000B
--------------------- Attributes --------------------------------------
Easy Identification.: typical text: 'VIRUS detected on this Disk.
Reset,WriteProt OFF.Re-Insert', 'AntiVirus
(C)1988 STARFIRE / NORTH STAR',
'OLD AntiVirus. Please RESET and INVERT
WriteProt for UPDATE.', 'AntiVirus (C)1988
STARFIRE / NORTH STAR'
virus feature: pressing left mouse/fire button of
port 2 during system reboot, causes the power
LED to blink fast detection of BYTE BANDIT and
SCA (and SCA clones).
Type of infection...: self-identification method: 'Nort' at 17th byte,
'Star' at 23th byte, 15th word (version) in
emory (loc. $0007EC10, $0007EC16,$0007EC1A)
system infection: RAM resident, reset resident,
bootblock
Infection Trigger...: reset (CONTROL + Left-AMIGA + RIGHT-AMIGA)
Storage media affected: only floppy disks (3.5" and 5.25")
Interrupts hooked...: ---
Damage..............: permanent damage: overwriting bootblock; disks
infected with a known virus can't be booted
without deprotecting (and infecting) them.
transient damage: screen buffer manipulation:
alert box when detecting a known virus or an
older version of this virus
Damage Trigger......: permanent damage: reset
transient damage: detecting known virus,see below
Particularities.....: resident programs using the CoolCaptureVector or
the KickTagPointer are shut down;
version id: 15th word (used to detect
older version)
generation counter: 16th word
detects and counts following viruses:
SCA and clones: counter (17th word)
BYTE BANDIT: counter (18th word)
a unknown virus: counter (19th word), that
virus seems to have the
value hex. $00BFE001 at
longword offset dec. 164
from the beginning of boot-
block
Similarities........: NORTH STAR II
--------------------- Agents ------------------------------------------
Countermeasures.....: Names of tested products of Category 1-6:
Category 1: .2 Monitoring System Vectors:
'CHECKVECTORS 2.2'
.3 Monitoring System Areas:
'CHECKVECTORS 2.2','GUARDIAN 1.2',
'VIRUSX 4.0'
Category 2: Alteration Detection: ---
Category 3: Eradication: 'CHECKVECTORS 2.2',
'VIRUSX 4.0'
Category 4: Vaccine: ---
Category 5: Hardware Methods: ---
Category 6: Cryptographic Methods: ---
Countermeasures successful: 'CHECKVECTORS 2.2', 'GUARDIAN 1.2',
'VIRUSX 4.0'
Standard means......: 'CHECKVECTORS 2.2'
--------------------- Acknowledgement ---------------------------------
Location............: Virus Test Center, University Hamburg, FRG
Classification by...: Oliver Meng, Wolfram Schmidt
Documentation by....: Alfred Manthey Rojas
Date................: 5-June-1990
Information Source..: ---
===================== End of NORTH STAR I Virus =======================
Antivirus...........: Kickstart 1.2 & 1.3 : VT-Schutz v3.17
Kickstart all others: VirusZ III v1.04B or higher, and also Xvs.library v33.47 or higher
Screenshot of NorthStar I Virus:
Ascii of Northstar 1 Bootblock virus:
Ascii of Northstar 1 Bootblock virus:
