Excerpt
This test file has been provided
to EICAR for distribution as the "EICAR Standard Anti-Virus Test File", and it satisfies
all the criteria listed above. It is safe to pass around, because it is not a virus, and
does not include any fragments of viral code. Most products react to it as if it were a
virus (though they typically report it with an obvious name, such as "EICAR-AV-Test").