How to remove the Coronavirus Track and trace result email virus?

What is Coronavirus Track and trace result email virus?

It is popular among cybercriminals to use the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to trick people into making money transactions, providing personal information, or installing malicious software on their computers. In this particular case, cybercriminals attempt to deliver malware via coronavirus-themed email.

Coronavirus Track and trace result email virus in detail

Cybercriminals behind this email attempt to trick recipients into believing they have received their coronavirus test results. This email contains an attachment, a PDF document with a download link for a password-protected ZIP file. The aforementioned ZIP file contains an LNK ("Information.lnk") file designed to connect to a remote server.

It is unknown how exactly malware (and what type of malware) gets installed after connecting to a remote server through the LNK file in the password-protected ZIP file, however, it is possible that a malicious script gets injected into a legitimate Windows operating system process.

It seems quite likely that cybercriminals use this email to trick recipients into installing ransomware, some cryptocurrency miner, or a trojan. Ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts files to make them inaccessible unless victims decrypt them with a decryption tool (e.g., key, program) purchased from the attackers.

Cryptocurrency miners use hardware such as processors (CPUs), graphics cards (GPUs), or other hardware to solve mathematical problems (to mince cryptocurrency like Bitcoin). Simply said, cybercriminals behind miners generate revenue by using other computers (hardware) as miners without having to use their own.

Trojans are malicious programs that can be designed to do different things. The two most popular types of trojans are Remote Access Trojans (RATs) and banking trojans. RATs allow cybercriminals to control infected computers remotely. Banking trojans target banking information (e.g., credit card details, CVV numbers).

Threat Summary:

Name	Coronavirus Track And Trace Result spam
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Hoax	Letter regarding coronavirus test results
Attachment(s)	PDF document
Detection Names (Information.lnk)	Arcabit (Heur.BZC.YAX.Nioc.1.08335EA1), BitDefender (Heur.BZC.YAX.Nioc.1.08335EA1), Emsisoft (Heur.BZC.YAX.Nioc.1.08335EA1 (B)), Microsoft (Trojan:Script/Woreflint.A!cl), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Symptoms	It is common for email viruses to be designed to stealthily infiltrate the victim's computer and remain silent, and thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine.
Payload	Unknown
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.

Malspam campaigns in general

In conclusion, emails used to deliver malware contain malicious attachments or website links. In one way or another, the main purpose of these emails is to trick recipients into installing malicious software. More examples of similar emails are "GOYAL ARTS AND TOYS Email Virus", "Care Logistics Email Virus", and "Kaseya Email Virus".

How did Coronavirus Track and trace result email virus infect my computer?

This email letter has a PDF document attached to it. That document contains a download link for a ZIP file with an LNK file in it. Malware gets installed after opening that LNK file. As mentioned previously, the LNK file ("Information.lnk") triggers the installation of malware through a remote server (possibly by injecting malicious code into a legitimate process).

It is worthwhile to mention that malicious emails could contain other files as well, for example, executable files like EXE, JavaScript files, Microsoft Office documents, RAR or other archive files, and so on. Usually, files attached to emails of this type are disguised as important, relevant, and (or) personal documents.

How to avoid installation of malware?

It is advisable not to trust irrelevant emails that have files or links in them (especially if they are sent from an unknown address). Quite often, emails of this kind are designed to look like official letters from legitimate companies, institutions, or other entities and have a malicious file or link in them.

Also, it is recommended to use official, trustworthy websites and direct links while downloading files, programs. Peer-to-Peer networks (like eMule, torrent clients), unofficial web pages, third-party downloaders, installers, etc., can be used to proliferate malicious programs.

Installed programs should be updated and activated with tools, functions) provided by their (official) developers. It is strongly recommended not to use third-party, unofficial tools - they can be malicious. Moreover, it is not legal to activate licensed software with various cracking tools.

The operating system should be scanned for malware or any other threats regularly. It is recommended to scan it with s reputable antivirus or anti-spyware software. If you've already opened "Coronavirus Track and trace result email virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the Coronavirus Track and trace result email letter:

Subject: Covid Test Result

Attached is your recent Coronavirus Track and trace result
and take the necessary action immediately.

Document access password is : Information
--------------------------------
This e-mail (including any attachments) is confidential and may contain proprietary information. It may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure.If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail.
--------------------------------

Malicious attachment distributed via Coronavirus Track and trace result email virus campaign:

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Quick menu:

• What is Coronavirus Track And Trace Result 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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