EGABTR (EGA for enhanced graphics adapter), sometimes pronounced "Eggbeater", was a
Trojan horse program that achieved some level of notoriety in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Allegedly a
graphics
Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture ...
utility that would improve the quality of an
EGA
Ega or EGA may refer to:
Military
* East German Army, the common western name for the National People's Army
* Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, the emblem of the United States Marine Corps
People
* Aega (mayor of the palace), 7th-century noble of Neus ...
display, it actually was
malware
Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
that deleted the
file allocation table
File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on hard disks and other devices. It is often supported for compatibility reasons by ...
s on the
hard drive.
This deletion was accompanied by a text message reading "Arf! Arf! Got you!".
Coverage about this virus has translated in languages such as German, Chinese and Indonesian. Various sources disagree as to the exact wording.
In the 1980s, Richard Streeter, a
CBS executive, once downloaded the Trojan virus, learned about EGABTR after visiting electronic Bulletin boards, hoping to find something to improve his operating system and unknowingly downloaded the virus.
References
External links
Google Books
Trojan horses
{{malware-stub