How to avoid installation of the Agent Tesla via SARS eFiling scam

What is "SARS eFiling Email Virus"?

Like most malspam campaigns, this one is sent by cyber criminals who attempt to trick recipients into installing malware. In this particular case, the email is disguised as a message from South African Revenue Service (SARS).

The main aim of the cyber criminals responsible is to deceive recipients into opening the malicious attachment, which contains a malicious executable designed to install the Agent Tesla Remote Access Trojan (RAT). Therefore, you are strongly advised to leave the attached file unopened and ignore this email.

Recipients are encouraged to open SARS eFiling system and review a document through the attached "sar efilling.z" archive file, which contains the "sar file2020.exe" executable file (their names might vary). As mentioned, the file attached to this email is malicious - the executable file within it installs the aforementioned Agent Tesla RAT.

In most cases, RATs give cyber criminals behind them administrative control over infected computers.

Therefore, they might use the software to download and execute files (install additional malware such as ransomware, and other Trojans), access and manage files stored on the computer (including sensitive photos, documents), access the microphone and webcam, take screenshots, and to perform other actions.

The main Agent Tesla feature is keystroke logging. Therefore, this malicious software can be used to steal logins, passwords, credit card details and other sensitive information by recording pressed keys (keyboard input).

Stolen information could be sold to other cyber criminals, misused to hijack personal accounts, steal identities, make fraudulent purchases, transactions, and so on. Note that stolen accounts could be used to spread the Agent Tesla RAT further or deceive other users into installing other malware.

These possible problems can be avoided by not opening the file attached to these (and other similar) emails. Note that cyber criminals behind such emails exploit names of well-known companies, organizations and individuals to make their emails seem legitimate.

In this case, they even include the official SARS eFiling landing page address. Note that none of these companies organizations, etc., have anything to do with this malspam. The same applies to SARS eFiling, which is the official online tax returns submission portal for the South African Revenue Service.

Threat Summary:

Name	SARS eFiling spam
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Hoax	This email is disguised as a message, which supposedly opens the SARS eFiling landing page.
Attachment(s)	sar efilling.z (its name might vary).
Detection Names	BitDefender (Gen:Variant.Strictor.245539), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of Win32/Injector.EMBN), Kaspersky (UDS:DangerousObject.Multi.Generic), Microsoft (VirTool:Win32/CeeInject.JJ!bit), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal).
Symptoms	Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate the victim's computer and remain silent, and thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine.
Payload	Agent Tesla
Distribution methods	Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software 'cracks'.
Damage	Stolen passwords and banking information, identity theft, the 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 spam campaigns used to distribute malicious software. Some examples are "Cuerpo Nacional de Policía", "Institut za zdravstvo Srbije" and "Spring Company Invoice". They often contain a malicious link or attachment. When recipients execute the malicious file, they inadvertently infect their computers with malware (e.g. ransomware, Trojans).

How did "SARS eFiling Email Virus" infect my computer?

Computers become infected through this spam campaign when recipients open (launch/execute) the malicious "sar file2020.exe" file, which is extracted from the "sar efilling.z" archive file.

Therefore, Agent Tesla cannot be installed without execution of the aforementioned malicious executable. Some examples of other files that cyber criminals attach to their emails to distribute malware include malicious Microsoft Office documents, JavaScript files, PDF documents, other executables, and archive files (ZIP, RAR).

Note that malicious MS Office documents infect systems only when users give permission to enable content/editing (macros commands), however, if such a document is opened with MS Office versions released before 2010, it infects the computer automatically (since these versions do not include "Protected View" mode).

How to avoid installation of malware

Do not open files that are attached to irrelevant emails, especially if the emails are sent from some unknown, suspicious addresses. The same applies to website links. Cyber criminals often disguise their emails as important, official, and legitimate. Opening dubious attachments or links can cause installation of malware, or other serious issues.

Software should be downloaded only from official, trustworthy websites and via direct links. Third party downloaders, installers, Peer-to-Peer networks, unofficial pages and other channels of this kind should not be trusted. Activate installed software properly. Unofficial activation ('cracking') tools often cause installation of malware.

Furthermore, it is illegal to these tools to bypass activation of licensed software. The same applies to software updates - third party updaters can install malware. Therefore, installed software must be updated and/or activated only with implemented functions/tools designed by official software developers.

Scan computers regularly for threats with reputable antivirus or anti-spyware software, and keep this software up to date. If you have already opened a "SARS eFiling Email Virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "SARS eFiling Email Virus" email message:

Subject: SARS eFiling Letter Notification

 

Dear Sir./Madam

 

An EMP Statement of Account for the tax payer listed below has been issued by SARS.

 

Please open the SARS eFiling system attached, to view it.

 

If you have any queries please contact our helpdesk on 0800 00 SARS (7277).

 

Best Regards

 

The SARS eFiling Team
http://www.sarsefiling.co.za

 

SARS eFiling
Welcome to the new SARS eFiling Landing Page. SARS eFiling is a free, online process for the submission of returns and declarations and other related services.
www.sarsefiling.co.za

Malicious file distributed via SARS eFiling malspam campaign detected as a threat by multiple engines:

 

An example of of SARS eFilling-themed spam email spreading a phishing HTML document:

Text presented within:

Subject: To Whom It May Concern

 

To Whom It May Concern

An EMP Statement of Account for the tax payer listed below has been issued by SARS.

Please log into the SARS eFiling system, and navigate to the EMP 201 Work Page to view it.

* 7410553002 - CFC Industrial Corporation CC - EMPSA for Period 2020/04/01 - 2020/04/30

If you have any queries please contact our helpdesk on 0800 00 SARS (7277).

Best Regards

The SARS eFiling Team
hxxp://www.sarsefiling.co.za

Screenshot of the attached phishing HTML document:

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Quick menu:

• What is SARS eFiling 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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