New Virus Targets Delphi Created Programs

Kaspersky, a provider of antivirus software, has recently detected a new PC virus dubbed Win32.Induc that snatches control of a computer after infecting it. The virus attacks systems having an active Delphi development environment used to create Windows software like database programs.

When contamination occurs, all Delphi applications utilizing the Delphi platform also become contaminated. A test by the antivirus lab has by now detected the initial instances of the infection.

News reports state that Win32.Induc influences versions 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 of the Delphi software. The virus, after creating a copy that it calls SysConst.bak, modifies the original Delphi file SysConst.dcu to replace it with its own compiled edition. Since every time Delphi applications are compiled, malware is installed, therefore any software created thenceforth would also be contaminated.

The security investigators said - the virus is devoid of a malevolent payload, thus causes no destruction to the systems without Delphi. Hence, it doesn't pose a real danger at present.

Commenting on this issue, Nick Bilogorskiy, Manager of antivirus Research at SonicWall, said that the malware simply disseminated without erasing files alternatively, performing anything malevolent, as reported by CNetNews on August 18, 2009. However, Bilogorskiy added that if a user developed a program and the code infected it, then antivirus software would clearly block it.

In addition, the virus automatically distributes the .exe file along with the original code. The malware searches for the tool that compiles the Delphi programs for a repeat compile of the original code after it has introduced itself to the already compiled programs.

Bilogorskiy further stated that program creators whose computers have the infection would transmit the same to other software that they might be creating.

In the meantime, the investigators stated that there was nothing new in hiding malware in a compiler. Ken Thompson an Unix grandee at the 1984 Turing Prize, Reflections on Trusting Trust event, discussed how by employing the C compiler, a backdoor Trojan could be inserted while a user logged on, adding that a 25 years had passed to actually realize the notion, as reported by the H Security on August 18, 2009.

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» SPAMfighter News - 9/4/2009