Malware spam: "HMRC taxes application with reference L4TI 2A0A UWSV WASP received" / "noreply@taxreg.hmrc.gov.uk"

This fake tax spam leads to malware:

From     "noreply@taxreg.hmrc.gov.uk" [noreply@taxreg.hmrc.gov.uk]
Date     Wed, 1 Jul 2015 11:20:37 +0000
Subject     HMRC taxes application with reference L4TI 2A0A UWSV WASP received

The application with reference number L4TI 2A0A UWSV WASP submitted by you or your
agent to register for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) taxes has been received and will
now be verified. HMRC will contact you if further information is needed.

Please download/view your HMRC documents here: http://quadroft.com/secure_storage/get_document.html

The original of this email was scanned for viruses by the Government Secure Intranet
virus scanning service supplied by Vodafone in partnership with Symantec. (CCTM Certificate
Number 2009/09/0052.) On leaving the GSi this email was certified virus free.

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
for legal purposes.d

If you have the correct browser agent (e.g. Internet Explorer 8 on Windows) you will see a "Your document will download shortly.." notice. If you have something else, a fake 404 page will be generated.

The page then forwards to the real HMRC login page but attempts to dump a malicious ZIP from another source at the same time.

In this case, the ZIP file was Document_HM901417.zip which contains a malicious executable Document_HM901417.exe. This has a VirusTotal detection rate of 3/55 (identified as the Upatre downloader).

Automated analysis [1] [2] [3] shows attempted traffic to 93.185.4.90 (C2NET, Czech Republic) and a dropped executable with a random name and an MD5 of ba841ac5f7500b6ea59fcbbfd4d8da32 with a detection rate of 2/55.

The payload is almost definitely the Dyre banking trojan.

Malware spam: "Considerable law alternations" / "excerptum_from_the_implemented_rule.zip" / "Pamela Adams"

This fake legal spam comes with a malicious payload:

Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2015 22:04:09 +0900
Subject: Considerable law alternations

Pursuant to alternations made to the Criminal Code securities have to be reestimated.
Described proceeding is to finish until April 2016.
However shown levy values to be settled last in this year.
Please see the documents above  .
Pamela Adams
Chief accountant

In the sample I saw there was an attachment named excerptum_from_the_implemented_rule.zip containing a malicious executable excerptum_from_the_implemented_act.exe which has a VirusTotal detection rate of 2/55.

Automated analysis tools [1] [2] [3] show malicious traffic to the following IPs:

93.185.4.90 (C2NET Przno, Czech Republic)
216.16.93.250 (Clarity Telecom LLC / PrairieWave, US)
195.34.206.204 (Radionet, Ukraine)
75.98.158.55 (Safelink Internet , US)
185.47.89.141 (Orion Telekom, Serbia)
83.168.164.18 (SWAN, a.s. TRIO network, Slovakia)
85.192.165.229 (Rostelecom / VolgaTelecom, Russia)
178.222.250.35 (Telekom Srbija, Serbia)

The Malwr report and Hybrid Analysis report indicate a couple of  dropped files, gebadof.exe (VT 2/55 - identical to the initial file) and qppwkce.exe (VT 3/55). This malware appears to be a combination of the Upatre downloader and Dyre banking trojan.

Recommended blocklist:
93.185.4.90
216.16.93.250
195.34.206.204
75.98.158.55
185.47.89.141
83.168.164.18
85.192.165.229
178.222.250.35

MD5s:
a85849c45667805231f2093e2eabe89d
e91e0424ac23193461c57ac1046e7dc1

Malware spam: "Hope this e-mail finds You well" / "Stacey Grimly"

This spam comes with a malicious attachment:

Date:    23 June 2015 at 14:14
Subject:    Hope this e-mail finds You well

Good day!

Hope this e-mail finds You well.

Please be informed that we received the documents regarding the agreement No. 7232-003 dated from 3rd day of June.
However there are some forms missing.
We made the list of missing documents for Your ease (the list is attached below).
Please kindly check whether these forms are kept in your records.
In case you have any questions here are our contact details: 838-72-99. Feel free to give a call at any time.

Stacey Grimly,
Project Manager

Some of the details vary in each email, but the overall format is the same. So far I have seen two different mis-named attachments:

check.zip size=57747.zipsize=57747
check.zip size=57717.zipsize=57717

The file sizes actually match the one listed in the file's name. Because the attachment is not properly named, some ZIP file handlers may fail to deal with them. Equally, the technique may be designed to get the spam past mail filters.

Each archive contains a file info_bank_pdf.exe with different checksums and a detection rate of 3/52 or 3/54. Automated analysis tools [1] [2] [3] indicate traffic to the following locations:

93.93.194.202 (Orion Telekom, Serbia)
173.216.240.56 (Suddenlink Communications, US)
188.255.169.176 (Orion Telekom, Serbia)
68.190.246.142 (Charter Communications, US)

These two Malwr reports [1] [2] show dropped files named yaxkodila.exe (two versions, VT 5/54 and 5/55) plus a file jieduk.exe (VT 8/54). Incidentally, the VirusTotal analysis also throws up another IP address of:

104.174.123.66 (Time Warner Cable, US)

The malware is a common combination of the Upatre downloader and Dyre banking trojan, targeting Windows systems.

Recommended blocklist:
93.93.194.202
173.216.240.56
188.255.169.176
68.190.246.142
104.174.123.66

 MD5s:
67f05372a34534c5892defb29ba8ead7
267e23f6430999f4b71a074835f19fb2
cebf89f088458f3e89599ae44d03cddf
cfdcb1cbe8983707287be4a03cdb88b4
880ba84222524510c9fe3b3d80429816

Malware spam: "Tax inspection notification" / "tax_663-20845-0479-435.zip size=18288.zipsize=18288"

This fake tax notification comes with a malicious payload.

Date:    22 June 2015 at 19:10
Subject:    Tax inspection notification

Good day!
Trust this e-mail finds You well.
Please be notified that next week the revenue service is going to organize tax inspections.
That is why we highly recommend You to file the attached form in order to be prepared.
Inspectors are to determine whether You as a taxpayer have settled the correct amount of taxes.
According to our records, the inspectors license No. is 090-96919-5886-935. Please check  as it is an important procedure rule.
We may discuss all the related matters by phone: +1 998-497-85. Feel free to contact us.
Bruce Climt,
Tax Advisor

Attached is a file with a malformed ZIP filename of tax_663-20845-0479-435.zip size=18288.zipsize=18288 which contains a malicious executable info_bank_pdf.exe which has a VirusTotal detection rate of 4/57.

This Malwr analysis indicates a traffic pattern consistent with the Upatre downloader:

http://93.93.194.202:13234/203/HOME/0/51-SP3/0/ELHBEDIBEHGBEHK
http://93.93.194.202:13234/203/HOME/41/5/4/ELHBEDIBEHGBEHK

That IP address is the same as seen in this attack earlier today and it belongs to Orion Telekom in Serbia. This VirusTotal report also shows traffic to 178.214.221.89 (Optical Systems LLC, Ukraine), and this Hybrid Analysis report also shows traffic to 37.57.144.177 (Triolan, Ukraine).

Furthermore, this other Malwr report shows two dropped executables, karetfob.exe [VT 4/57] and sveezback.exe [VT 15/57]. The dropped payload will be the Dyre banking trojan.

Recommended blocklist:
93.93.194.202
178.214.221.89
37.57.144.177

MD5s:
394c56133b323ce3bf038cfc7a00562a
4e9fec8e532664672bd3a022f4f0b4ec
14b8a0f6a9258f9e73f63a4269641ca0

Malware spam: "Shareholder alert" / "instructions.zip size=21154.zipsize=21154"

This fake financial spam comes with a malicious attachment:

Date:    22 June 2015 at 13:07
Subject:    Shareholder alert

Hope this e-mail finds You well. Please note that in 2015 no dividends will be paid due to resolution of the Board of Directors. Please see attached.     Glen McCoy, Partner

Attached is a mis-named ZIP file called instructions.zip size=21154.zipsize=21154 containing a malicious executable instructions_document.exe which has a VirusTotal detection rate of 1/56.

The Malwr report indicates network traffic to:

http://93.93.194.202:13227/212/HOME/0/51-SP3/0/ELHBEDIBEHGBEHK
http://93.93.194.202:13227/212/HOME/41/5/1/ELHBEDIBEHGBEHK

93.93.194.202 is Orion Telekom in Serbia.

It also drops an executable xiroukiqa.exe with a detection rate of 5/56 and vusjeson.exe with a detection rate of 4/57. The VirusTotal report for the last binary also shows traffic to 64.111.36.35 ( Midwest Data Center, US), which is clearly malicious according to VirusTotal.

The characteristics of this malware indicate the Upatre download leading to the Dyre banking trojan.

Recommended blocklist:
64.111.36.35
93.93.194.202

MD5s:
058216b2635e9c48c22eda6f9b7c83b5
6b2858d4452d97992ab78fd228c3970d
da53e58da4778515d22a96968766c3e3

Malware spam: "New instructions" / "instructions_document.exe"

This rather terse spam comes with a malicious payload:

From:    tim [tim@thramb.com]
Date:    19 June 2015 at 16:40
Subject:    New instructions

New instructions payment of US banks, ask to read

Attached is an archive file with the somewhat unusual name of instructions.zip size=19811 which contains a malicious executable named instructions_document.exe.

The VirusTotal analysis indicates that this is the Upatre download [detection rate 3/57]. Automated analysis tools [1] [2] [3] [4] show traffic to:

93.93.194.202:13222/C21/UEQUILABOOMBOOM/0/51-SP3/0/MEBEFEBLGBEID

which is an IP operated by Orion Telekom in Serbia, and also 66.196.63.33:443 which is Hamilton Telecommunications in the US. A characteristic of this generation of Upatre is that it sends traffic to icanhazip.com which while not malicious in itself is quite a good indicator of infection.

In all cases I have seen, Upatre drops the Dyre banking trojan, but I have been unable to obtain a sample.

Recommended blocklist:
93.93.194.202
66.196.63.33

MD5s:
329a2254cf4c110f3097aafdaa50c82a

Malware spam: "This is a Remitter Advice following the submission of a payment instruction by Lloyds Bank Plc." / "Australian Taxation Office"

This spam doesn't seem to know if it's from Lloyds Bank or the Australian Tax Office.

From:    Australian Taxation Office [noreply@ato.gov.au]
Date:    22 May 2015 at 10:31
Subject:    Remittance Advisory Email


Monday 22 May 2014

This is a Remitter Advice following the submission of a payment instruction by Lloyds Bank Plc.

Please review the details of the payment here.


Lloyds Banking Group plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC95000. Telephone: 0131 225 4555. Lloyds Bank plc. Registered Office: 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN. Registered in England and Wales no. 2065. Telephone 0207626 1500. Bank of Scotland plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC327000. Telephone: 08457 21 31 41. Cheltenham & Gloucester plc. Registered Office: Barnett Way, Gloucester GL4 3RL. Registered in England and Wales 2299428. Telephone: 0845 603 1637

Lloyds Bank plc, Bank of Scotland plc are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority.

Cheltenham & Gloucester plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Halifax is a division of Bank of Scotland plc. Cheltenham & Gloucester Savings is a division of Lloyds Bank plc.

HBOS plc. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Registered in Scotland no. SC218813.

This e-mail (including any attachments) is private and confidential and may contain privileged material. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete it (including any attachments) immediately. You must not copy, distribute, disclose or use any of the information in it or any attachments. Telephone calls may be monitored or recorded.
The link in the email goes to a download page at sharefile.com and leads to an archive file FAX_82APL932UN_772.zip containing a malicious executable FAX_82APL932UN_772.scr which has a date stamp of 01/01/2002 (presumably to make it harder to spot).

This binary has a detection rate of 4/57 and automated analysis tools [1] [2] [3] [4] show that it downloads another file from:

relianceproducts.com/js/p2105us77.exe

This is renamed to csrss_15.exe and has a detection rate of 3/54. It is most likely a component of the Dyre banking trojan.

In addition, this Hybrid Analysis report shows traffic to:

209.15.197.235 (Peer 1, Canada) [relianceproducts.com]
217.23.194.237 (BLICNET, Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Recommended blocklist:
209.15.197.235
217.23.194.237

MD5s:
eb26a6c56b7f85b3257980d0c273c3cf
178a4e3dfa0feea04079592d3113bd2e

Malware spam: "Australian Taxation Office - Refund Notification" / "Australian Taxation Office [noreply@ato.gov.au]"

G'day mate. Despite not being an Aussie and never having paid a single Australian cent in tax, apparently I'm due a tax refund from the Australian Tax Office. Bonzer!

From:    Australian Taxation Office [noreply@ato.gov.au]
Date:    21 April 2015 at 21:36
Subject:    Australian Taxation Office - Refund Notification

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION

Australian Taxation Office - 22/04/2015

After the last calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a refund of 218.21 AUD.

To view/download your tax notification please click here or follow the link below :
https://www.ato.gov.au/AZItems.aspx?id=3673&category=Tax+legislation+and+regulations&sorttype=azindexdisplay&Disp=True?NotificationCode=report2104_4343697

Brett Newman, Tax Refund Department Australian Taxation Office 

Despite the "gov.au" site that apparently displays in the link, it actually leads to a download from i.nfil.es and it leads to a ZIP file called report2104.zip which in turn contains the malicious executable report2104.exe.

Currently this malware has a reasonable detection rate of 23/57. Out of various automated analysis tools, only the Payload Security Hybrid Analysis engine gave a decent result indicating that a connection was made to a legitimate but hacked site relianceproducts.com and then several versions of the same .EXE were downloaded, which this VirusTotal report indicates is the Dyre banking trojan. That same VirusTotal post also lists a number of C&C servers that you might want to block:

213.239.214.42
81.162.123.76
77.87.99.67
62.122.69.150
91.238.74.70
62.122.69.172
91.194.239.126
94.231.178.46
194.28.190.167
80.234.34.137
213.111.243.60
46.149.253.52
37.57.101.221
134.249.63.46
85.192.165.229
46.151.48.149
195.34.206.204
62.122.69.159
188.123.34.203
178.18.172.215
91.232.157.139
46.151.49.128
195.206.255.131
37.232.185.114
176.120.201.9
62.182.33.16
46.180.147.50
46.175.23.130
46.151.48.184
84.16.55.12
84.16.54.22
84.16.55.122
93.184.71.88
83.168.164.18
212.89.237.65
176.109.58.78
212.37.81.96
95.165.196.227
195.34.239.93
77.234.235.48
109.236.121.136
217.12.59.238
181.189.152.131
194.28.190.183
95.67.88.84
176.56.24.229
178.136.123.22

Malware spam: "JP Morgan Access [Carrie.Tolstedt@jpmorgan.com]" / "FW: Customer account docs"

This fake financial spam comes with a malicious attachment.

---

From:    JP Morgan Access [Carrie.Tolstedt@jpmorgan.com]
Date:    18 March 2015 at 17:49
Subject:    FW: Customer account docs

We have received the following documents regarding your account, if you would like to confirm the changes please check / view the documents please click here. Carrie L. Tolstedt Carrie.Tolstedt@chase.com Senior Executive Vice President Community Banking J.P. Morgan Treasury and Securities Services This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.

---

As it happens, Carrie L Tolstedt is a real executive... at Wells Fargo. The lady in the picture is another Wells Fargo employee entirely.

But anyway, this is a simple forgery containing a link to a file at Cubby which downloads as Documents_JP3922PV8.zip and contains a malicious file Documents_JP3922PV8.exe which has a icon to make it look like an Adobe acrobat file.

The executable has a low VirusTotal detection rate of 3/57.  Various automated analysis tools [1] [2] [3] [4] show the malware downloading additional components from:

bej-it-solutions.com/pvt/ixusn.rtf
capslik.com/mandoc/ixusn.rtf

It then attempts to POST data to an IP at 109.230.131.95 (Vsevnet Ltd. Russia) which is a critical IP to block if you want to protect yourself against this type of Upatre / Dyre attack.

The Malwr report also shows that amongst other things it downloads an executable lwxzqrk36.exe which has a detection rate of just 2/57. That Malwr report also shows that it downloads and pops up a PDF about drone strikes.

Source: malwr.com

Presumably this PDF pops up to make the victim think that they have been duped into opening some politically-themed spam. Instead, they have actually installed the Dyre banking trojan.. in other words, the victim may well think that it is nothing serious when it really is.

The download locations for this Upatre/Dyre combination change all the time, but the IP address of 109.230.131.95  has been around for a little while. Also, it is a characteristic of this malware that it calls out to checkip.dyndns.org to determine the client IP address.. monitoring for traffic going to that location can be a useful indicator of infection.


ssssssssssss

Malware spam: "Your online Gateway.gov.uk Submission"

This spam leads to a malicious ZIP file hosted either on Dropbox or Cubby.

From:    Gateway.gov.uk
Date:    18 March 2015 at 13:19
Subject:    Your online Gateway.gov.uk Submission

Electronic Submission Gateway

Thank you for your submission for the Government Gateway.
The Government Gateway is the UK's centralized registration service for e-Government services.

To view/download your form to the Government Gateway please visit http://www.gateway.gov.uk/file/s/gdvzk7toum8ghnc/SecureDocument.zip?dl=1

This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply as the email address is not
monitored for received mail.

gov.uk - the best place to find government services and information - Opens in new window

The best place to find government services and information

The link leads to an archive file Avis_De_Paiement.zip which in turn contains a malicious binary Avis_De_Paiement.scr which has a VirusTotal detection rate of 16/57. ThreatExpert and Comodo CAMAS report that it downloads components from the following locations:

canabrake.com.mx/css/doc11.rtf
straphael.org.uk/youth2000_files/doc11.rtf

My sources indicate that this most likely phones home to 109.230.131.95 (Vsevnet Ltd. Russia) which is a known bad IP that I recommend blocking. The payload appears to be the Upatre downloader leading to the Dyre banking trojan.

Malware spam: "Your online Gateway.gov.uk Submission"

This fake Government spam leads to malware.

From:    Gateway.gov.uk
Date:    6 March 2015 at 11:49
Subject:    Your online Gateway.gov.uk Submission

Government Gateway logo

Electronic Submission Gateway

Thank you for your submission for the Government Gateway.
The Government Gateway is the UK's centralized registration service for e-Government services.

To view/download your form to the Government Gateway please visit http://www.gateway.gov.uk/

This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply as the email address is not
monitored for received mail.
gov.uk - the best place to find government services and information - Opens in new window

The best place to find government services and information

The link in the email leads to a download at cubbyusercontent.com and the payload is the same as this NatWest spam run also active today.

Malware spam: "You have received a new secure message from BankLine" / "Bankline [secure.message@business.natwest.com]"

This fake banking spam leads to malware.

From:    Bankline [secure.message@business.natwest.com]
Date:    6 March 2015 at 10:36
Subject:    You have received a new secure message from BankLine

You have received a secure message.

Your Documents have been uploaded to Cubby cloud storage.
Cubby cloud storage  is a cloud data service powered by LogMeIn, Inc.

Read your secure message by following the link bellow:

https://www.cubbyusercontent.com/pl/Business%20Secure%20Message.zip/_90ad04a3965340b195b8be98c6a6ae37


----------------
You will be prompted to open (view) the file or save (download) it to your computer. For best results, save the file first, then open it.

If you have concerns about the validity of this message, please contact the sender directly. For questions please contact the Bankline Bank Secure Email Help Desk at 0131 556 8719.

First time users - will need to register after opening the attachment.
About Email Encryption - https://help.business.natwest.com/support/app/answers/detail/a_id/1671/kw/secure%20message 

This downloads a ZIP file from cubbyusercontent.com which contains a malicious executable Business Secure Message.exe which has a VirusTotal detection rate of just 1/57.

Automated analysis tools [1] [2] [3] [4] show attempted connections to the following URLs:

http://all-about-weightloss.org/wp-includes/images/vikun.png
http://bestcoveragefoundation.com/wp-includes/images/vikun.png
http://190.111.9.129:14248/0603no11/HOME/0/51-SP3/0/ELHBEDIBEHGBEHK
http://190.111.9.129:14249/0603no11/HOME/41/7/4/

It also appears that there is an attempted connection to 212.56.214.203.

Of all of these IPs, 190.111.9.129 (Navega.com, Guatemala) is the most critical to block. It is also a characteristic of this malware (Upatre/Dyre) that it connects to checkip.dyndns.org to work out the IP address of the infected machine, it is worth checking for traffic to this domain.

The Malwr report shows several dropped files, including fyuTTs27.exe which has a VirusTotal detection rate of 4/57.