How to avoid installation of malware through the Billtrust malspam campaign

What is "Billtrust Email Virus"?

This malspam campaign is disguised as a message from Billtrust with an invoice attached. In fact, cyber criminals send this email to trick recipients into infecting their computers with malicious software. Typically, malware is installed when recipients execute a malicious file.

Therefore, you are strongly advised not to trust these emails - leave the contents (attachments and/or website links) unopened.

As mentioned, cyber criminals disguise this malspam campaign as a message from Billtrust, a legitimate provider of order-to-cash solutions. No legitimate companies are involved in these campaigns, and this includes Billtrust.

The main goal of cyber criminals behind this email is to deceive recipients into believing that they have received an invoice and to open the attached malicious MS Excel (.xls) document. Note that this document cannot install malware without disabling Protected View mode (and thereby enabling macros commands).

It is unknown which malicious software this document installs, however, it is very likely that enabling macros commands will lead to installation of ransomware, Trojans, cryptocurrency miners or other malware. 

In most cases, recipients who execute malicious files received via email end up installing malicious software that encrypts files, steals sensitive information, and gives cyber criminals permission to control the computer remotely or mine cryptocurrency.

Therefore, victims of these malware attacks often become victims of identity theft, suffer monetary, data loss, lose access to personal accounts, experience issues relating to browsing safety, online privacy and other serious issues. Therefore, ignore this email and do not open the malicious file attached to it. The same applies to all other malspam campaigns.

Threat Summary:

Name	Billtrust email spam
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Hoax	This email is disguised as message from Billtrust.
Attachment(s)	23181056-75.xlsm (its name might vary).
Detection Names	Arcabit (W97m.Downloader.IWS), BitDefender (W97m.Downloader.IWS), Emsisoft (W97m.Downloader.IWS (B)), Kaspersky (HEUR:Trojan.MSOffice.Alien.gen), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal).
Symptoms	In most cases malicious programs 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	The malicious file attached to this email can be designed to install various malware.
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 numerous malspam campaigns. Some examples are "Universidade De Lisboa Email Virus", "Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Email Virus" and "You Must Go To The Law Court Email Virus". The emails often contain a malicious attachment or website link.

In any case, recipients cannot infect their computers without first opening the attachment. Some examples of other malicious programs that are distributed via malspam campaigns are LokiBot, NanoCore, TrickBot and Ursnif.

How did "Billtrust Email Virus" infect my computer?

Malware is installed through emails only when recipients open malicious files (attachments or files downloaded via malicious links). Typically, cyber criminals send emails that contain an Microsoft Office document, PDF document, JavaScript file, archive file such as ZIP, RAR, executable file such as .exe.

Note that malicious documents opened with Microsoft Office 2010 or later cannot install malware, unless users enable macros commands (editing/content). The later versions have "Protected View" mode, which prevents opened malicious documents from causing installation of malicious software. MS Office versions released before 2010 infect computers automatically.

How to avoid installation of malware

Software and files should be downloaded only from legitimate, official, pages and via direct links. Peer-to-Peer networks (torrent clients, eMule), unofficial pages, third party downloaders, installers, free file hosting pages, etc., are often used to distribute malicious software.

Therefore, it is not safe to use them to download or install software or files. Attachments and links in irrelevant emails that are received from unknown, suspicious addresses should not be opened. If there is any reason to suspect that an email is received from cyber criminals, leave the contents unopened.

All installed programs should be updated and activated with tools/functions that are designed by official software developers. It is never safe to use third party, unofficial updaters or activators. Furthermore, it is illegal to activate licensed software with 'cracking' tools.

Scan your computer for threats regularly using reputable antivirus or anti-spyware software. If you have already opened an "Billtrust Email Virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Billtrust Email Virus" email message:

Subject: Your Invoice is Attached

 

Attached is your invoice

 

INVOICE NUMBER    PO NUMBER    AMOUNT    
23181056-75        $1,520.00    

Want to save some time and effort? We now can provide your invoice information in an Easy Import file so you can import invoice information directly into your accounting system.

Please Note: We use the industry standard Office/PDF format for storing and displaying bills. This makes it very easy to print or save your bill to your PC. If you're unable to view this attachment, please click here to get the latest version of the free Acrobat Reader.

Thank you for helping the environment by using email billing.

***This is an automated email. Please do not respond directly to it.*** Thank you.

Malicious attachment distributed via "Billtrust 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 Billtrust email 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.

▼ Show Discussion