Tornado Group Email Virus

What is "Tornado Group Email Virus"?

"Tornado Group Email Virus" is a spam email campaign used to proliferate a remote access tool (RAT) called Remcos RAT. This tool is a legitimate program, however, some cyber criminals use it to generate revenue in malicious ways. Scammers use this spam campaign to trick people into opening an attachment and installing the aforementioned Remcos RAT.

Other similar spam campaigns are CitiBank Email Virus, IRS Online Email Virus, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers Email Virus.

Scammers behind this campaign claim to be representatives of Tornado Trading Group. They trick people into participating in a bidding process by sending a Request For Quotation (RFQ). They send this email to many people and urge recipients to check (download and open) the attached file immediately.

Note that the attachment (called "Tournado Group LLC Order.pdf.arj") is not an RFQ, but a rogue file that, once extracted, produces the "Tournado Group LLC Order.pdf.exe" executable file. Once executed this executable opens an installation setup of the Remcos RAT tool.

It can be identified in Task Manager as the "distally" process. Cyber criminals use this tool to gain access to users' computers. By allowing installation of this tool, users give scammers access to personal information, such as logins, saved passwords, and so on.

Furthermore, enabling this tool gives cyber criminals the opportunity to monitor users' computers in real time. It also gives them the ability to install software, including malicious programs, viruses, etc. Therefore, installing this software puts users at risk of privacy issues, computer infections, and other problems.

Threat Summary:

Name	Tornado Group 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.

There are many viruses and other infections that can be spread through email spam campaigns of this type, including, for example, REDAMAN, TrickBot, FormBook, and Adwind. These viruses usually have similar behavior - they gather data, proliferate other viruses, etc.

Having a computer infected by such viruses is likely to cause problems relating to privacy and computer safety. If you suspect that your system is infected with rogue software or a virus, remove it immediately.

How did "Tornado Group Email Virus" infect my computer?

In this case, the "Tornado Group Email Virus" spam email is used to proliferate an email attachment called "Tournado Group LLC Order.pdf.ari" (an archive file). Once extracted, it produces an executable file that, when executed, leads to installation of the Remcos RAT (a program that cyber criminals use to cause problems and generate revenue in various ways).

Note, however, that this tool can be installed only if the archive file is extracted and the "Tournado Group LLC Order.pdf.exe" is executed. Therefore, users must trigger the infection manually.

How to avoid installation of malware?

To prevent your computer from being infected with viruses, take precautions when browsing the web and downloading or installing software. Do not open attachments that are presented in emails sent from unknown/suspicious addresses. If the email seems irrelevant, certainly do not open the attachment.

To avoid infections or other problems, simply ignore these emails. Having reputable anti-virus or anti-spyware software is also a good way to avoid computer infections - these tools can detect viruses or other infections before they can do any damage. If you have already opened a "Tornado Group" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Tornado Group Email Virus" email message:

Subject: Request for Quotation
Dear Sir,
Ref. to a/m subject, you are kindly requested to bid the attached RFQ.
Waiting your feedback ASAP, and thanks in advance.
Kind Regards,
Hassan Rahid Sheikh
Tornado Trading Group

Screenshot of a Remcos RAT process ("distally (32 bit)") in Task Manager:

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 Tornado Group 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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