The test is based on standard pattern known as " Standard Anti-Virus Test File". It is safe to pass around, because it is not a virus, and does not include any fragments of viral code. Most products react to it as if it were a virus (though they typically report it with an obvious name, such as "EICAR-AV-Test"). The file is a legitimate DOS program, and produces sensible results when run (it prints the message "EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE"). It is also short and simple - in fact, it consists entirely of printable ASCII characters, so that it can easily be created with a regular text editor. Any anti-virus product which supports the test file should "detect" it in any file which starts with the following 68 characters:
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
To keep things simple, the file uses only upper case letters, digits and punctuation marks, and does not include spaces. The only thing to watch out for when typing in the test file is that the third character is the capital letter "O", not the digit zero.
You could easely test the protection of your e-mail system by requesting selected files containing test strings. Just fill your name, your e-mail, select which files you want to receiv, and press Submit!
Your comments on this service are very welcome, write to Oleg Titov at info (arroba) aleph-tec (punto) com.
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© 2002-2006 by Oleg Titov