Malware, with the exception of boot sector viruses and some file infectors, is named according to the following format:

The suffix used in the naming convention indicates the variant of the threat. The suffix assigned to a new threat (meaning the binary code for the threat is not similar to any existing security risks) is the alpha character "A." Subsequent strains are given subsequent suffixes, for example, "B", "C", "D". Occasionally a threat is assigned a special suffix, (.GEN, for generic detection or .DAM if the variant is damaged or malformed).