McAfee > Theat Center > Virus Detail Page

Overview

-- Update July 19, 2007 --
The risk assessment of this threat has been updated to Low-Profiled due to media attention at:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071807-hackers-use-brazilian-plane-crash.html?fsrc=rss-security

Update Jun 19, 2007

A new variant of this trojan has been spammed via an email which purports to be information on the recent Brazilian airplane crash.  The email contains a link which, when clicked, goes to a bank password stealer.  This variant will be included in the 5079 DATs (July 20, 2007).

This is a trojan detection. Unlike viruses, trojans do not self-replicate. They are spread manually, often under the premise that they are beneficial or wanted. The most common installation methods involve system or security exploitation, and unsuspecting users manually executing unknown programs. Distribution channels include email, malicious or hacked web pages, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), peer-to-peer networks, etc.

Characteristics

-- Update July 19, 2007 --
The risk assessment of this threat has been updated to Low-Profiled due to media attention at:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071807-hackers-use-brazilian-plane-crash.html?fsrc=rss-security

Update Jun 19, 2007

A new variant of this trojan has been spammed via an email which purports to be information on the recent Brazilian airplane crash.  The email contains a link which, when clicked, goes to a bank password stealer. This new variant will be included in the 5079 DATs (July 20, 2007).

The email appears as follows:

When run, this trojan tries to harvest email addresses from the local system to be used for further spamming, to a file called c:\winx.log.  It searches for them in the following file types:

• dbx
• wab
• mbx
• mai
• eml
• tbb
• mbox

The trojan tries to send the contents of this winx.log file, along with system information and keylogs, to the author via email and FTP. 

It also tries to download a file to c:\winsw.exe, from a remote site.  The trojan does not copy itself locally, or create registry keys to run itself again. 

PWS-Banker.gen.i is a password stealing trojan that captures bank account information (username/password) and sends this information to the author via different methods. These methods include (this is not an exclusive list)

    * FTP
    * SMTP
    * HTTP (embedded through URLs or through FORMs)
    * Fake HTTP pages
    * Keyloggers
    * Custom backdoors
    * Injecting DLLs into memory

There are several variants of the trojan. The description is a general guide.  Newer variants require the latest DAT files for detection and cleaning.

In addition, Password Stealers may steal data from the hard drive.

Symptoms

The Trojan is running in the process list.

Mails may be sent using Outlook in some instances, or network traffic on port 25, connecting to a remote SMTP (mail) server to send email data to the malware author.

Infected user might be prompted to enter their online banking credentials after running the malware.

Method of Infection

N/A. Password Stealers are not viruses, and as such do not themselves contain any method to replicate. However they may themselves be downloaded by other viruses and/or Trojans to be installed on the user's system.

Many of these additionally are mass spammed by the author to entice people into double-clicking on them.

Alternatively they may be installed by visiting a malicious web page (either by clicking on a link, or by the website hosting a scripted exploit which installs the Password Stealer onto the user's system with no user interaction.

Removal

All Users:
Use current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

Modifications made to the system Registry and/or INI files for the purposes of hooking system startup, will be successfully removed if cleaning with the recommended engine and DAT combination (or higher).

Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations

Variants

Variants

N/A

All Information

Overview -

-- Update July 19, 2007 --
The risk assessment of this threat has been updated to Low-Profiled due to media attention at:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071807-hackers-use-brazilian-plane-crash.html?fsrc=rss-security

Update Jun 19, 2007

A new variant of this trojan has been spammed via an email which purports to be information on the recent Brazilian airplane crash.  The email contains a link which, when clicked, goes to a bank password stealer.  This variant will be included in the 5079 DATs (July 20, 2007).

This is a trojan detection. Unlike viruses, trojans do not self-replicate. They are spread manually, often under the premise that they are beneficial or wanted. The most common installation methods involve system or security exploitation, and unsuspecting users manually executing unknown programs. Distribution channels include email, malicious or hacked web pages, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), peer-to-peer networks, etc.

Characteristics

Characteristics -

-- Update July 19, 2007 --
The risk assessment of this threat has been updated to Low-Profiled due to media attention at:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071807-hackers-use-brazilian-plane-crash.html?fsrc=rss-security

Update Jun 19, 2007

A new variant of this trojan has been spammed via an email which purports to be information on the recent Brazilian airplane crash.  The email contains a link which, when clicked, goes to a bank password stealer. This new variant will be included in the 5079 DATs (July 20, 2007).

The email appears as follows:

When run, this trojan tries to harvest email addresses from the local system to be used for further spamming, to a file called c:\winx.log.  It searches for them in the following file types:

• dbx
• wab
• mbx
• mai
• eml
• tbb
• mbox

The trojan tries to send the contents of this winx.log file, along with system information and keylogs, to the author via email and FTP. 

It also tries to download a file to c:\winsw.exe, from a remote site.  The trojan does not copy itself locally, or create registry keys to run itself again. 

PWS-Banker.gen.i is a password stealing trojan that captures bank account information (username/password) and sends this information to the author via different methods. These methods include (this is not an exclusive list)

    * FTP
    * SMTP
    * HTTP (embedded through URLs or through FORMs)
    * Fake HTTP pages
    * Keyloggers
    * Custom backdoors
    * Injecting DLLs into memory

There are several variants of the trojan. The description is a general guide.  Newer variants require the latest DAT files for detection and cleaning.

In addition, Password Stealers may steal data from the hard drive.

Symptoms

Symptoms -

The Trojan is running in the process list.

Mails may be sent using Outlook in some instances, or network traffic on port 25, connecting to a remote SMTP (mail) server to send email data to the malware author.

Infected user might be prompted to enter their online banking credentials after running the malware.

Method of Infection

Method of Infection -

N/A. Password Stealers are not viruses, and as such do not themselves contain any method to replicate. However they may themselves be downloaded by other viruses and/or Trojans to be installed on the user's system.

Many of these additionally are mass spammed by the author to entice people into double-clicking on them.

Alternatively they may be installed by visiting a malicious web page (either by clicking on a link, or by the website hosting a scripted exploit which installs the Password Stealer onto the user's system with no user interaction.

Removal -

Removal -

All Users:
Use current engine and DAT files for detection and removal.

Modifications made to the system Registry and/or INI files for the purposes of hooking system startup, will be successfully removed if cleaning with the recommended engine and DAT combination (or higher).

Additional Windows ME/XP removal considerations

Variants

Variants -

N/A