Ernst & Young Email Virus

What is "Ernst & Young Email Virus"?

"Ernst & Young Email Virus" is categorized a spam campaign that cyber criminals use to distribute a high-risk trojan virus called TrickBot.

The working principle of this campaign is simple: scammers send emails to many users and detail a legitimate and important matter in the subject line. The purpose of this spam campaign is infect computers with malware by tricking as many users as possible into opening the attachment.

According to the email sent by fictitious sender sender, Caroline Artis from Ernst & Young (or a victim of a misappropriated identity), this email is a final warning message. As stated in the email (entitled Overdue Invoice!), an overdue amount of £12.481.73 must be paid within fourteen days. If not, Ernest & Young will appeal to the County Court.

There is a link provided that allows recipients to download the document and view the "invoice" details. As mentioned, this is just a scam and we advise against downloading and opening files via the link. Most cyber criminals claim to be representatives of well-known companies, in this case, Ernst & Young.

Note that Ernst & Young and Caroline Artis have nothing to do with this. The scam email campaign is designed to to trick people into opening the attachment, which will then download and install the TrickBot virus. This virus hijacks visited websites and modifies the content.

The modifications allow TrickBot to gather banking details and various logins and passwords of personal accounts. The more details gathered, the more damage can be done. Cyber criminals use the information to generate revenue. Typically, data tracking applications (viruses such as TrickBot) cause multiple financial and privacy issues.

If you have already opened the attachment included in the "Ernst & Young Email Virus" email, there is a high possibility that your computer is already infected. You should scan your system with reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware software immediately.

Threat Summary:

Name	Ernst & Young 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. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Many viruses are similar to TrickBot including, for example, FormBook, Emotet, and Adwind. They may differ in some ways, but most cause safety/privacy issues and potential financial problems. If you believe that your system might be infected by one of these viruses, remove it as soon as possible.

How did "Ernst & Young Email Virus" infect my computer?

BMO account report, HMRC, Confidential Fax (and others) are all similar spam email campaigns that promote a malicious file presented in the form of a Microsoft Office document. The "Ernst & Young Email Virus" spam campaign is used to promote an Excel (.xls) document. When opened, it usually asks for permission to enable macros commands.

Once enabled, they trigger execution of specific commands that download and install the TrickBot virus. Note, however, that this works only with Microsoft Office and associated documents. The virus cannot be downloaded and installed if the document is opened using other products (not Microsoft Office). Therefore, users of other platforms should be safe.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Carefully study each received email, especially those containing attachments or if the email is sent from a suspicious email address. Do not open attachments that are presented in emails from unknown/suspicious senders. Have reputable anti-virus and/or anti-spyware software installed and keep it enabled at all times.

Do not open Microsoft Office documents using a Microsoft Office version that is older than MS Office 2010. Newer versions (MS Office 2010 and later) have "Protected View" mode that prevents files (malicious email attachments) from downloading and installing viruses such as TrickBot.

If you have already opened a "Ernst & Young Email Virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Ernst & Young Email Virus" email message:

Subject: FW: Overdue Invoice!
Overdue Invoice!
Final Warning
Iím writing you further to my letter, relateing to the overdue invoice as detailed above.
The amount of £12,481.73 is still outstanding on your account. If the full amount is not received within fourteen days the EY will have no alternative but to commence legal proceesings through the County Court.
have enclosed a copy of the invoice for your reference, you can download / view using this link :
Caroline Artis
Senior London Partner
+44 (0)20 7951 4084
Caroline.Artis@ey-uk.com

Malicious attachment distributed via "Ernst & Young Email Virus" spam campaign:

Instant automatic malware removal: Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Quick menu:

• What is Ernst & Young 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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