Client Requirements Email Virus
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is Client Requirements Email Virus?
"Client Requirements Email Virus" is another spam email campaign similar to Order Confirmation Email Virus, BID PURCHASE DOCUMENT Email Virus, and many others. Cyber criminals use this campaign to proliferate high-risk malware called LokiBot. As usual, criminals send thousands of deceptive emails that are delivered with malicious attachments.
"Client Requirements Email Virus" campaign emails contain a message encouraging users to read the contract details provided in the attached document. To make it more believable, cyber criminals design the email to look like an official notification, however, this is a scam. The opened attachment immediately infects the system with LokiBot malware.
As mentioned above, cyber criminals claim to be employees of a law company. This is common behavior for malware developers. They often hide behind the names of legitimate companies or governmental agencies to attempt to give the impression of legitimacy.
In this way, they significantly increase the number of infections - users are much more likely to open malicious attachments when they are received from familiar names. LokiBot is a high-risk information tracking trojan. It records personal information (such as logins/passwords and so on) and stores it on a remote server.
Therefore, cyber criminals might gain access to victims' personal accounts on social networks, banks, etc.). These people aim to generate as much revenue as possible and often abuse hijacked accounts. The presence of LokiBot malware can lead to serious privacy issues and significant financial loss.
If you have already opened "Client Requirements Email Virus" campaign attachments, your computer is probably infected with LokiBot. Therefore, you should immediately scan it with a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite and eliminate all detected threats.
Name | Client Requirements spam |
Threat Type | Trojan, Password stealing virus, Banking malware, Spyware |
Symptoms | Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate victim's computer and remain silent thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine. |
Distribution methods | Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software cracks. |
Damage | Stolen banking information, passwords, identity theft, victim's computer added to a botnet. |
Malware Removal (Windows) | To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. |
LokiBot shares many similarities with other trojan-type viruses, such as Adwind, FormBook, Emotet, TrickBot, and so on. Most are proliferated using spam email campaigns.
Furthermore, their behavior is very similar - they record personal information. In some cases, however, trojan-type viruses also proliferate other malware (usually, ransomware). One way or another, trojans pose a significant threat to your privacy and browsing safety. They should be eliminated immediately.
How did Client Requirements Email Virus infect my computer?
The "Client Requirements Email Virus" campaign proliferates a malicious Microsoft Office document. Once opened, this file asks users to grant permission to open other files, otherwise the content will not be displayed properly. By clicking "Yes", users inadvertently grant attachments permission to infiltrate LokiBot into the system.
This malware distribution method is simple and effective, however, it has a major flaw - attachments are unable to download viruses if the user is not using Microsoft Office tools. For example, if the .doc file is opened using any application other than MS Word, the malware will not be downloaded.
Note that LokiBot works only on Microsoft Windows and Google Android operating systems. Therefore, users of other platforms are safe.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Be very cautious when browsing the Internet. Carefully analyze each email attachment received. If the file seems irrelevant or has been received from a suspicious/unrecognizable email address, it should never be opened. Have a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and running.
These tools detect and eliminate infectious files before they perform malicious actions. The main reasons for computer infections are poor knowledge and careless behavior - the key to safety is caution. If you have already opened a "Client Requirements Email Virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Text presented in the "Client Requirements Email Virus" email message:
Subject: Client requirements
Dear, please see attached customer requirements and get back to us with necessary information to proceed with contract.
Sincerely yours,
Manachai Tadthong(LL.M)
[Managing Partner & Attorney At Law]
LawMark Imports & Associates Office
Malicious attachment distributed via "Client Requirements Email Virus" spam campaign:
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Quick menu:
- What is Client Requirements spam?
- Types of malicious emails.
- How to spot a malicious email?
- What to do if you fell for an email scam?
Types of malicious emails:
Phishing Emails
Most commonly, cybercriminals use deceptive emails to trick Internet users into giving away their sensitive private information, for example, login information for various online services, email accounts, or online banking information.
Such attacks are called phishing. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals usually send an email message with some popular service logo (for example, Microsoft, DHL, Amazon, Netflix), create urgency (wrong shipping address, expired password, etc.), and place a link which they hope their potential victims will click on.
After clicking the link presented in such email message, victims are redirected to a fake website that looks identical or extremely similar to the original one. Victims are then asked to enter their password, credit card details, or some other information that gets stolen by cybercriminals.
Emails with Malicious Attachments
Another popular attack vector is email spam with malicious attachments that infect users' computers with malware. Malicious attachments usually carry trojans that are capable of stealing passwords, banking information, and other sensitive information.
In such attacks, cybercriminals' main goal is to trick their potential victims into opening an infected email attachment. To achieve this goal, email messages usually talk about recently received invoices, faxes, or voice messages.
If a potential victim falls for the lure and opens the attachment, their computers get infected, and cybercriminals can collect a lot of sensitive information.
While it's a more complicated method to steal personal information (spam filters and antivirus programs usually detect such attempts), if successful, cybercriminals can get a much wider array of data and can collect information for a long period of time.
Sextortion Emails
This is a type of phishing. In this case, users receive an email claiming that a cybercriminal could access the webcam of the potential victim and has a video recording of one's masturbation.
To get rid of the video, victims are asked to pay a ransom (usually using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency). Nevertheless, all of these claims are false - users who receive such emails should ignore and delete them.
How to spot a malicious email?
While cyber criminals try to make their lure emails look trustworthy, here are some things that you should look for when trying to spot a phishing email:
- Check the sender's ("from") email address: Hover your mouse over the "from" address and check if it's legitimate. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft, be sure to check if the email address is @microsoft.com and not something suspicious like @m1crosoft.com, @microsfot.com, @account-security-noreply.com, etc.
- Check for generic greetings: If the greeting in the email is "Dear user", "Dear @youremail.com", "Dear valued customer", this should raise suspiciousness. Most commonly, companies call you by your name. Lack of this information could signal a phishing attempt.
- Check the links in the email: Hover your mouse over the link presented in the email, if the link that appears seems suspicious, don't click it. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft and the link in the email shows that it will go to firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0... you shouldn't trust it. It's best not to click any links in the emails but to visit the company website that sent you the email in the first place.
- Don't blindly trust email attachments: Most commonly, legitimate companies will ask you to log in to their website and to view any documents there; if you received an email with an attachment, it's a good idea to scan it with an antivirus application. Infected email attachments are a common attack vector used by cybercriminals.
To minimise the risk of opening phishing and malicious emails we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
Example of a spam email:
What to do if you fell for an email scam?
- If you clicked on a link in a phishing email and entered your password - be sure to change your password as soon as possible. Usually, cybercriminals collect stolen credentials and then sell them to other groups that use them for malicious purposes. If you change your password in a timely manner, there's a chance that criminals won't have enough time to do any damage.
- If you entered your credit card information - contact your bank as soon as possible and explain the situation. There's a good chance that you will need to cancel your compromised credit card and get a new one.
- If you see any signs of identity theft - you should immediately contact the Federal Trade Commission. This institution will collect information about your situation and create a personal recovery plan.
- If you opened a malicious attachment - your computer is probably infected, you should scan it with a reputable antivirus application. For this purpose, we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
- Help other Internet users - report phishing emails to Anti-Phishing Working Group, FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Fraud Information Center and U.S. Department of Justice.
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