Vaccine 5.0
The Personal Computer Anti-Virus Toolkit

In Brief

The newly released VACCINE 5.0, from the Davidsohn Group, provides
protection from stealth viruses. VACCINE can detect stealth viruses which
attack the boot sector of the hard disk. VACCINE also detects known
viruses by scanning for the viruses in files and in memory. In addition,
it can detect changes in a file by making an image fingerprint (or
checksum) of any file on the computer.

The VACCINE memory resident program (only 21K maximum) constantly monitors
all activities on a computer; it notifies the user of suspicious activity,
and intercepts programs before execution, to check for infections. Options
include boot sector protection and an automatic boot-sector check of newly
installed floppy disks.

VACCINE operates on IBM or compatible computers, running DOS 3.0 or above.
Networks supported.

Stealth Virus Protection

A stealth virus actively seeks to conceal itself from discovery or defend
itself against attempts to analyze or remove them. Stealth techniques
include self-encryption, redirection of disk reads, and alteration of disk
directory data.

VACCINE 5.0 employs a proprietary scheme for detecting stealth viruses
which attack the boot sectors on the hard disk. This scheme includes
modifications of the hard disk boot area enabling VACCINE to detect any
changes made to the boot area even when a stealth virus is active in
memory. The original boot areas of the hard disk are recovered by VACCINE,
allowing for restoration when a virus is detected.

Memory Efficient

The VACCINE memory resident program is memory efficient. The program
provides a set of options, to allow the user to decide which operations
should be monitored and prevented. The program will load only the amount
of memory required to perform the selected options. The basic program
(with all options disabled) requires only 9K of memory. The program will
still only require 21K of memory, with all options enabled.

Optional featues include: disabling all write operations, disabling disk
format, boot sector protection, automatic boot-sector check for newly
installed floppy diskettes, prevent other memory resident programs,
program interception and scan.

Transparent Operation

VACCINE is designed to operate completely transparently. It will not tamper
with existing operations or interfere with the normal operation being run.
No action will be taken to delete or modify an existing program without
verification from the user.

Detecting Infections

VACCINE allows the user to scan files on specific drives and directories.
The user will specify the extension names of files to be included in the
scan. VACCINE will recognize any extension name, or allow the user to scan
all files.

Virus Update

Updated virus definitions are provided free for one year for purchases
before January 1993. Updates can be obtained from the VACCINE Bulletin
Board Service, or from the Davidsohn Group virus definition update disk
service.

The Davidsohn Group, 20 Exchange Place, New York, NY 10005
212-422-4100, 800-999-6031, fax: 212-422-1953

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