Which phase is the virus replicating itself and attaching to a .exe file in the system?

• A. Infection Phase
• B. Overt Channel
• C. IExpress Wizard
• D. Attack Phase

Answer: (A)

In file infector malware, replication happens by attaching itself to a host executable so that when that program runs, the virus code executes and can propagate to other files. This stage describes the infection phase, where the malware embeds itself into a legitimate program (like a .exe) to spread and achieve execution within the system. The other terms don’t describe this propagation step: an overt channel refers to a communication method (often for exfiltration) rather than malware infection; IExpress Wizard is a Windows tool for creating installers, not a malware lifecycle phase; and Attack Phase isn’t a standard term used to describe how viruses infect or attach to executables.