What distinguishes a metamorphic virus?

A metamorphic virus is distinguished by its ability to rewrite itself entirely before it infects other systems. This characteristic allows the virus to change its code each time it replicates, which helps it evade detection by antivirus software. Traditional signature-based detection methods, which rely on identifying known patterns or signatures of viruses, find it more challenging to recognize metamorphic viruses because their constantly changing code does not match previously identified signatures.

This self-altering behavior makes metamorphic viruses particularly sophisticated and dangerous, as they can continue to spread and adapt to avoid being neutralized by security measures. The ability to rewrite its own code is a defining feature that sets it apart from other types of malware, including polymorphic viruses that only alter parts of their code.

While other options might refer to traits commonly associated with different types of malware, they do not encapsulate the unique self-replicating and self-modifying nature of a metamorphic virus.