Summary

This virus was found in the spring of 1994. It has been reported to be in the wild in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. J&M virus infects diskette boot sectors and hard disk MBRs in the usual manner.

Additional Details

J&M is a destructive virus, activating on the 15th of November. Upon activation, it enters an infinite loop and formats the first tracks of the first hard drive. There has also been a large-scale outbreak of J&M in Iceland during 1994. This is quite remarkable in itself, since before this incident no new viruses had been detected in Iceland for over two years. The virus was probably brought into Iceland in a portable PC which had been infected while its owner was traveling in Eastern Europe.

In autumn 1994 J&M was on the move in Germany, in early 1996 it was reported to be in the wild in the USA as well and in May 1996 it was located also in Japan.

[Analysis: Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure]