First virus for AMD64 processors emerges

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Symantec Corp. announced on Tuesday that it has discovered the first "proof of concept" virus targeting AMD’s 64-bit processors.
The virus is similar to the proof-of-concept Rugrat virus, named Shruggle. Like Rugrat, Shruggle does not spread from machine-to-machine, but infect only one system at a time, targeting 64-bit executable files.

The virus is written in AMD64 assembly code, said Symantec Analysts, meaning it will not be a threat to 32-bit versions of Windows.
"Shruggle is a fairly simple proof-of-concept virus," said Oliver Friedrichs, Senior Manager, Symantec Virus Response Team, "to show that the AMD platform is just as susceptible to attack as any other platform."



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