Prevent Flight Booking Email Virus from infecting your computer

What is "Flight Booking Email Virus"?

"Flight Booking" is the name of a spam campaign, used to spread the Agent Tesla malware (malicious software). This spam campaign was discovered by My Online Security. To spread such malignant programs, massive scale spam campaigns are used; huge numbers of emails are sent, containing executable files.

If the files are opened, the downloading and installation processes of aforementioned malware begin.

It must be noted, that emails of this type are always marked as "official" and "important" ("starred" or otherwise highlighted, depending on specific email service design terminology). It must be stressed, that suspicious emails should never be trusted nor files attached to them opened.

The email pretends to be a flight ticket confirmation for September 17 MDW (Midway International Airport/Chicago Midway Airport). It then goes on to list all the flight and transaction details. There is an attachment file is an archive, which as mentioned previously, contains the executable file for Agent Tesla installation.

Said malware is designed to grant remote access to systems it is installed onto. While Agent Tesla is presented as a legitimate tool, it is often used by cyber criminals for nefarious purposes. It records entered data (typed with a keyboard) and this keystroke recording feature is called "keylogging".

With it cyber criminals can record personal information - such as logins and passwords. This access data are used for banking, email and other vulnerable accounts. Therefore, having this sensitive information stolen can lead to severe privacy issues and financial losses.

Additionally, compromised accounts can be used to extract/extort money from others. In other words, affected accounts can be used to trick others into loaning them money or making other similar transactions.

They can also be used to further spread Agent Tesla and consequently infect even more systems. If users think that Agent Tesla or similar malware is already present on their devices, they are strongly recommended to inspect their systems and remove all suspect programs.

Threat Summary:

Name	Flight Booking spam
Threat Type	Trojan, Password stealing virus, Banking malware, Spyware
Hoax	Malicious attachment is presented as a flight-relating document and users are encouraged to check it for detailed information about the supposed flight.
Attachment(s)	ELECTRONIC FLIGHT TICKET CONFIRMATION BHQQCT 4GRAMWVKBTT1.7z
Detection Names	Avast (Win32:Malware-gen), DrWeb (Trojan.PWS.Stealer.19347), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of MSIL/GenKryptik.DRGU), Kaspersky (UDS:DangerousObject.Multi.Generic), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Symptoms	Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate victim's computer and remain silent thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine.
Payload	Agent Tesla RAT.
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 thousands of released spam campaigns and they can spread a variety of malicious content. Similar campaigns to "Flight Booking Email Virus" include "KNAPP EQUIPMENT Email Virus", "Transfast Email Virus" and "Managing Director Email Virus". They can be used to proliferate malware like TrickBot, Hancitor, Emotet, Ave Maria, etc. and ransomware.

How did "Flight Booking Email Virus" infect my computer?

Spam campaigns (like "Flight Booking Email Virus") can only cause system infections through attached files. These attachments can be in various formats, such as: executable files (for example, .exe), archive files (for example, ZIP or RAR), Microsoft Office or PDF documents, JavaScript and other files.

Unless opened, they cannot harm computers. To elaborate on an example, then: Microsoft Office documents when opened request enablement of macro commands (to enable editing). If permission to enable is given, only then does the attached file begin the process of downloading and installing malware.

How to avoid installation of malware?

To avoid system infections spread via emails, it is highly recommended not to open emails sent from unknown and/or suspicious senders (addresses). Additionally, attachments found in such emails should never be opened, downloaded or installed; the same applies to website links as well.

In most cases, these emails attempt to stress their importance, by pretending to be "official", "urgent" or otherwise highlighted as being of critical significance. Despite such labels and disguises, it has to be repeated that unknown and irrelevant emails should not be trusted.

Users are advised to use Microsoft Office versions released after year 2010, to protect themselves from possible infections through Microsoft Office document files. Versions released after said date have "Protected View" mode, which prevents malignant documents from downloading and installing malicious software.

In short, cautious approach towards received emails and the attachments found therein - are crucial to ensuring device integrity and user safety. If you've already opened "Flight Booking Email Virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Flight Booking Email Virus" email letter:

Subject: Your Flight booking is Confirmed

Attachment: ELECTRONIC FLIGHT TICKET CONFIRMATION BHQQCT 4GRAMWVKBTT1.7z

TICKET CONFIRMED N/M 17 SEPT MDW

Thank you for booking your flight with us.
Your Trip has been confirmed and Flight Ticked enclosed!

INVOICES 000Z129340
DATE 17 SEPT 19 BOOKING REF JLRPTT
AGENT KR/KR 727 866 0113 BAYWAY TRAVEL GROUP
IRMED 2:45 DURATION AIRCRADOTSON/CAILEY 1120 PINELLAS BAYWAY SUITE 112
BOEING 737-800 (WINGLETS)

----TRANSACTION CHARGE USD 40.00----
WANNA GET AWAY FARE USD 1790.96 RT EARLY BIRD CHECK IN USD 30.00
INVOICE TOTAL USD 1860.96
MCO PAYMENT: AX XXXXXXXXXXXXX1007 105696

SVC: 890 0716023963 TO RETAIN VALUE OF TKT FOR FUTURE
USE TKT MUST BE XLD BEFORE DEPARTURE TIME NO REFUNDS/AIRLINE RULES APPLY
+++ E-TICKETS HAVE EXPIRATION DATES AND CONDITIONS OF USE.

CHECK THE CARRIER'S FARE RULES FOR MORE INFORMATION.
BAGGAGE POLICY - FOR TRAVEL TO/FROM, WITHIN THE US/CA, PLEASE VISIT: HTTPS://BAGS.AMADEUS.CO M?R=JLRPTD&N=DOTSON

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 Flight Booking 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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