Phage Virus

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What Does Phage Virus Mean?

A phage virus is a computer virus which, rather than attaching to host files, will modify host file programs. It usually modifies the beginning of the executable code, destroying files in the process. If an infected file is transferred, the phage virus continuously transfers to other executable files until they are all infected.

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Techopedia Explains Phage Virus

A phage virus is destructive because it rewrites the programming of its host with its own code, rendering the host file unusable and resulting in a deleted or corrupted program.

A well-known example of a phage virus is the PalmOS/Phage, also known as the Palm Virus and Palm.Phage.Dropper, which rapidly self-propagates on handheld devices with the Palm operating system (OS), resulting in program elimination. This Phage virus incarnation transfers between devices if files are downloaded from the Web, shared via infrared (IR) beaming or synced with a PC.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.