Avoid infecting your system through fake "Palladium" emails

What is the "Palladium" scam email?

"Palladium email virus" is the name of a spam campaign designed to proliferate malicious software. The term "spam campaign" is used to define a mass-scale operation during which thousands of deceptive emails are sent.

The scam letters distributed through this campaign - are disguised as product inquires, supposedly from the "Palladium Group Co., Ltd". These emails have infectious files attached to them, which upon opening - initiate malware download/installation processes.

The "Palladium" scam emails (subject/title "Palladium Group Co., Ltd - NEW INQUIRY"; may vary) request recipients to provide their product quotes in accordance with the listed specifications. The fake letters ask recipients to indicate their products' FOB (Free on Board) price per piece, minimum order quantity, availability, shipping information, and make a competitive and comprehensive offer.

The "Palladium" emails state that recipients can also send their updated product catalog. The letters claim to contain the senders' product range, quality, and specifications in an attachment.

Recipients are asked to review the attached file. Once this attachment is opened - it triggers the infection process. In other words, upon opening, the file begins downloading/installing malware.

Spam campaigns are employed to spread all manner of malicious programs. Malware can have a broad range of heinous abilities, which can be in different combinations. Trojan is an especially broad malware type.

These malicious programs can have the following functionalities: downloading/installing additional malware, spying (i.e., recording key strokes, video/audio through integrated or connected cameras and microphones, etc.), exfiltrating content stored on infected systems, enabling remote access and control over the compromised devices (RATs - Remote Access Trojans), exfiltrating information from browsers and other installed applications (e.g., browsing activity, email addresses, usernames, passwords, credit card details, etc.), and so forth.

Ransomware is designed to encrypt data and/or lock the device's screen - to demand payment for the decryption/ access recovery. Cryptominer malicious programs use system resources (potentially, to the point of system failure/ permanent hardware damage) - to mine cryptocurrency.

To summarize, by trusting the "Palladium" scam emails, users can experience system infections, severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft. If it is suspected/known that the system has already been infected with malware - an anti-virus must be used to remove it immediately.

Threat Summary:

Name	Palladium spam
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Hoax	Scam emails are presented as product inquiries.
Attachment(s)	PRODUCTS LIST AND SPECIFICATIONS.exe (filename may vary)
Detection Names	Avast (Win32:PWSX-gen [Trj]), BitDefender (Trojan.GenericKD.46243292), ESET-NOD32 (Win32/PSW.Agent.OJQ), Kaspersky (HEUR:Trojan.MSIL.Injuke.gen), Microsoft (Trojan:MSIL/AgentTesla.ARR!MTB), 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.
Rogue Process Name	Shop Manager (process name may vary)
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.

"Walmart Email Virus", "Spring Marine Management S.A.", "SALAMA Email Virus", "Employee Retention Credit", and "Empros Lines Email Virus" are some examples of malware-spreading spam campaigns.

Deceptive emails are not used exclusively to proliferate malicious programs. These letters are also used to facilitate phishing and other scams.

The emails are typically disguised as "important", "urgent", "priority", and/or as mail from legitimate companies, corporations, organizations, institutions, authorities, and other entities. To avoid infecting the system via spam mail or getting scammed by it - caution must be exercised with incoming emails.

How did "Palladium email virus" infect my computer?

Systems are infected via virulent files distributed through spam campaigns. The files can be attached to the emails, and/or the letters can contain download links of malicious content. Infectious files can be in various formats, e.g., archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), PDF and Microsoft Office documents, JavaScript, and so on.

When the files are executed, run, or otherwise opened - the infection process (i.e., malware download/installation) is triggered. For example, Microsoft Office documents cause infections by executing malicious macro commands.

This process begins the moment a document is opened - in Microsoft Office versions released before 2010. Newer versions have "Protected View" mode, which prevents automatic execution of macros. Instead, users can manually enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), and they are warned of the potential risks.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Suspicious and irrelevant emails must not be opened - especially any attachments or links present in them. It is recommended to use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010.

Aside from spam campaigns, malware is also proliferated through untrustworthy download channels (e.g., unofficial and free file-hosting websites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks, etc.), illegal activation ("cracking") tools, and fake updates.

Therefore, it is important to download only from official and verified sources. Additionally, all programs have to be activated and updated with tools/functions provided by genuine developers.

To ensure device and user safety, it is crucial to have a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and updated. This software has to be used to perform regular system scans and remove detected threats and issues.

If you've already opened "Palladium email virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Palladium" scam email letter:

Subject: Palladium Group Co., Ltd - NEW INQUIRY

 

Dear Supplier,

 

My name is Katy Topping, our company Palladium Group Co., Ltd is interested in your product.

 

Please, kindly provide: FOB price per piece, Minimum order quantity.

 

Attached is our range of products, quality and specifications for your checking.

 

I would appreciate your early reply in advance, so that I can send it to my boss for approval.

 

You can also send your updated catalog too.

 

Kindly supply detailed information about it's availability, your best Competitive and Comprehensive offer.

 

Please, can you arrange shipments asap? Or how long will it take you to arrange shipments pls confirm at once.

Thanks and Best Regards

Katy Topping
Business Development manager

 

Palladium Group of company
19th Floor Ratu Plaza Office Tower,
Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Kav 9 Jakarta Pusat 10270
Indonesia
T +62 21 720 6616

Screenshot of VirusTotal detections of the malicious attachment distributed via "Palladium" spam campaign ("PRODUCTS LIST AND SPECIFICATIONS.exe"):

Screenshot of the malicious executable's process on Windows Task Manager ("Shop Manager" process name):

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Quick menu:

• What is Palladium 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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