Avoid system infections from fake "Secure Parking" emails

What is the "Secure Parking" email?

"Secure Parking" is the name of a spam email campaign. These scam messages are disguised as final warning notifications from Secure Parking, a legitimate international parking service provider. Note that the email is in no way connected to the genuine Secure Parking car park operator.

The messages claim that recipients have received a fine for parking violations, which must be addressed immediately. Rather than containing information relating to the incident and issued fine, the attached file starts the infection process/chain of Taurus Stealer malware.

When opened (and after the instructions provided within the document are carried out), the file begins downloading/installing this malicious program.

The "Secure Parking" emails (subject/title "Final Warning") state that a parking attendant has reasonable cause to believe that a violation has occurred. It was a breach of terms and conditions (which were clearly and prominently indicated) of Secure Parking client's private land, which were agreed to by the driver through the act of parking the vehicle.

The messages then list certain details concerning this incident such as date of parking, reference ID number, potential payment discounts, additional charges and the payment/fine amount. To pay this sum, recipients are instructed to download the attached invoice of the parking violation fine.

The attached file ("pay-violation1011277.doc") informs users that it is a protected document, which can be opened by enabling editing/content. If these instructions are followed, the document is able to execute malicious macro commands and begin the infection process of Taurus Stealer.

This malware is primarily designed to exfiltrate data (i.e. to steal information). Taurus targets certain cryptocurrency wallets (cryptowallets), browsers (e.g. saved usernames and passwords), email and other messaging/communication accounts.

It is also capable of stealing system information and causing chain infections (i.e. download/installation of Trojans, ransomware and other malware).

To summarize, trusting these fake "Secure Parking" emails can lead to serious system infections, significant device and data damage, financial loss, serious privacy issues and identity theft. If it is suspected/known that Taurus Stealer (or other malware) has already infected the system, use anti-virus software to eliminate it without delay.

Threat Summary:

Name	Secure Parking spam
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Hoax	Fake parking violation fees/fines from "Secure Parking".
Attachment(s)	pay-violation1011277.doc
Detection Names	Avast (SNH:Script [Dropper]), BitDefender (Trojan.GenericKD.43290086), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of Generik.DTQGEOM), Kaspersky (HEUR:Trojan.MSOffice.SAgent.gen), 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	Taurus Stealer
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.

Deceptive/Scam emails are distributed by the thousand during large scale operations termed "spam campaigns". "Audit and Assurance", "BOTAS", "Payments Due", "Your purchase of BTC has started" and "National Bank of Greece" are some examples of other malware-proliferating spam campaigns.

These messages are usually disguised as "official", "important", "urgent", and so on, however, spreading malicious programs is not the only purpose of these bogus emails. They are also used for phishing purposes and other scams. Regardless of what these emails claim, offer or demand, the goal is the same: to generate revenue for the designers.

How did "Secure Parking Email Virus" infect my computer?

Systems are infected through malicious files sent via spam campaigns. These files can be attached to the emails and/or the messages can contain malicious links (e.g. download links of infectious files). Infectious files can be in various formats such as Microsoft Office and PDF documents, archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), JavaScript, etc.

When they are executed, run or otherwise opened, the infection process/chain is triggered. For example, MS Office documents cause infections by executing malicious macro commands. In Microsoft Office versions released prior to 2010, this process is initiated when a document is opened.

The newer versions have "Protected View" mode, which prevents the infection from being initiated automatically. When a document is opened in these versions, users are asked to enable macros (i.e. to enable editing/content), and thus an infection can only be started when macro commands are enabled manually.

How to avoid installation of malware

Do not open suspicious or irrelevant emails, especially those with any attachments or links found in them. Use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010. Spam campaigns are not the only methods used to spread malware.

Other popular distribution techniques include untrusted download channels (e.g. unofficial and free file-hosting websites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks and other third party downloaders), illegal activation ("cracking") tools and fake updaters.

Therefore, it is important to download from official and verified sources, and activate and update programs with tools/functions provided by genuine developers. To protect device health and user safety, it is crucial to have a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed.

Furthermore, this software must be kept updated, used to perform regular system scans and to remove detected threats and issues. If you have already opened "Secure Parking Email Virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Secure Parking" email message:

Subject: Final Warning

 

SECURE P

 

The Parking Professionals

 

Notification To Ticket Keeper

 

Parking attendant #: 89920US had reasonable cause to believe that the following crime of the terms and conditions of marking occured on our client's private land (Details of which were clearly and prominently displayed and agreed to by the driver by the act of parking the vehicle).

Parking Charge Information
Parking Charge Date: May, 29 2020
Referance ID number: O23J21XHA
Discount YOu Could Have: $5.85
14 Day Early Pay Discount: $0.00
Additional Charges: $0.00
Parking Charge Amount: $87.17

 

To pay for your Parking Violation download attached invoice.

 

unsubscribe

Malicious attachment distributed via "Secure Parking" email spam campaign ("pay-violation1011277.doc"):

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Quick menu:

• What is Secure Parking 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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