Pakistani Brain

MS-DOS

Pakistani Brain is a virus that spreads to other computers by copying its code to other files or programs.

Pakistani Brain prevents access from programs to websites of several companies related with security tools (antivirus programs, firewalls, etc.).

Pakistani Brain redirects attempts to access web pages of certain banks to spoofed pages, with the aim of logging information entered by the user in these pages.

Pakistani Brain redirects attempts to access several web pages to a specific IP address.

Pakistani Brain uses the following propagation or distribution methods:

• Exploiting vulnerabilities with the intervention of the user: exploiting vulnerabilities in file formats or applications. To exploit them successfully it needs the intervention of the user: opening files, viewing malicious web pages, reading emails, etc.
• File infection: it infects different types of files, which are then distributed through any of the usual means: floppy disks, email messages with attachments, Internet download, files transferred via FTP, IRC channels, P2P file sharing networks, etc.

Pakistani Brain uses the following infection strategies:

• Resident: once it has been run, the virus goes memory resident and stops functions belonging to the operating system. Therefore, every time the operating system or an application tries to access any of these functions, the virus will activate and infect new files.
• Stealth: when the virus is memory resident, it hides the modifications made to the boot sectors or files it has infected. These modifications are: changes in size, date, attributes, etc.