Emails Entitled “Payment Copy” are Malware Maligned, Warns Cisco

Security experts of security firm Cisco alerted Internauts of notifications entitled: "Payment Copy", drafted by cybercriminals which is being spread to the devices of innocent recipients.

The emails purporting from the "Accounts Department" of a firm named 'Changzhou XNE Group', and addressing the recipient of the email as "Dear Sir, tell him that the sender has been awaiting the recipient's reply for the past week after last planned payment of the remaining expenses of his account's balance.

The emails contain an attached file which names the attachment as: "SCAN COPY.rar". But, in actuality the file is tainted with a malware strain.

Security officials of the security firm comment that malware rigged spam email campaigns of the above types are the cause of surge in malware over the Internet and their comment is supported by data released by security firm Kaspersky in its recently released report 'Spam in Q3 2013' according to which malicious attachments were detected in 3.9% of all emails -1.6% points more than in Q2-2013.

Internauts are advised to be wary of such malicious emails to mitigate the chances of being victimized by malware maligned junk emails of above types. But, in case you receive such emails in your inbox, immediately delete them, security experts' advice.

However, if you have downloaded and then executed the attached file contained in malicious emails of the above discussed types then it's advisable to scan your PC with the latest anti-virus (AV) solution of a reputed anti-virus firm. The malware may not be recognized immediately, but it surely be detected after a few updates released by the security firms, the security experts add.

Moreover, it is not the first time that Cisco has reported about a malware tainted spam email attack as in early November 2013, a malware distribution campaign using email messages concealed as UPS (United Parcel Service) which is a renowned American global package delivery company based in Georgia, United States, delivery notifications were intercepted by it. These messages contained an attachment with a filename and extension .txt or .doc which is a disgusted rtf (Rich Text Format) file.

» SPAMfighter News - 11/20/2013