IRS/PhotoArchive Themed Zeus/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild

UPDATED: Monday, February 22, 2010 - Another typosquatted domains portfolio is being spamvertised, including two new name servers, parked on the same IP where name servers from previous campaigns were hosted.

Typosquatted domains, and name servers of notice are as follows:
dese.co.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
dese.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
dese.ne.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
dese.or.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desr.co.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desr.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desr.or.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desv.co.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desv.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desv.ne.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desv.or.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desx.co.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desx.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desx.ne.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desx.or.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
edasa.co.kr
edasa.kr
edasa.ne.kr
edasa.or.kr
edase.co.kr
edase.kr
edase.ne.kr
edase.or.kr
edasn.kr
edasn.ne.kr
edasn.or.kr
edasq.co.kr
edasq.kr
edasq.ne.kr
edasq.or.kr

Name servers of notice:
ns1.silverbrend.net - 87.117.245.9 - Email: klincz@aol.com
ns1.hourscanine.com - 87.117.245.9 - Email: carruawau@gmail.com

UPDATED: Sunday, February 21, 2010 - The gang is currently spamming a phishing campaign -- no client-side serving iFrames found so far -- attempting to steal Google account and Blogspot accounting data. Given the fact that the gang is capable of generating hundreds of thousands of bogus accounts on their own, as well as buy them in bulk orders from vendors that have already built such an inventory across multiple social networking sites, the only logical reason for attempting to phish for such data would be to attempt to maliciously monetize the traffic of legitimate blogs.

The newly spamvertised domains, including a new name server are as follows:
esub.co.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esub.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esub.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esug.co.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esug.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esug.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esuk.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esuk.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esuk.or.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esus.co.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esus.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esus.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esut.co.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esut.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esut.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
ns1.nitroexcel.com - 89.238.165.195 (the same IP was also hosting the name server domains from previous campaigns) - Email: rackmodule@writemail.com

UPDATED: Saturday, February 20, 2010 - The client-side exploit serving iFrame directory has been changed to 91.201.196.101 /usasp11/in.php, with another typosquatted portfolio of domains currently being spamvertised.

Detection rates: update.exe - Trojan.Zbot - Result: 25/40 (62.5%) (phones back to trollar.ru /cnf/trl.jpg - 109.95.114.133 - Email: bernardo_pr@inbox.ru); file.exe - Trojan.Spy.ZBot.12544.1 - Result: 26/41 (63.42%);  ie.js - JS:CVE-2008-0015-G - Result: 14/40 (35%); ie2.js - Exploit:JS/CVE-2008-0015 - Result: 17/40 (42.5%); nowTrue.swf - Trojan.SWF.Dropper.E - Result: 24/41 (58.54%); pdf.pdf - Exploit.JS.Pdfka.bln - Result: 11/41 (26.83%); swf.swf - SWF/Exploit.Agent.BS - Result: 8/40 (20%).

Domain portfolio, name server of notice - ns1.vektoroils.net - 74.117.63.218 - Email: admin@forsyte.info :
desa.co.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desa.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desa.ne.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desa.or.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desb.co.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desb.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desb.ne.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desb.or.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
deso.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
deso.or.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desv.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desz.co.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desz.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desz.ne.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desz.or.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk

UPDATED: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - The iFrame directory has been changed to 91.201.196.101 /usasp/in.php, detection rate for update.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 17/40 (42.5%).

Currently active and spamvertised domains include:
saqwk.co.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwk.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwk.ne.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwk.or.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwm.co.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwm.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwm.ne.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwq.co.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwq.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwq.ne.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwq.or.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwz.co.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwz.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwz.ne.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwz.or.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com

As anticipated, the botnet masters behind the systematically rotated campaigns dissected in previous posts, kick off the week with multiple campaigns parked on the newly introduced fast-fluxed domains.

In a typical multitasking fashion, two campaigns are currently active on different sub domains introduced at the typosquatted fast-flux ones, impersonating the U.S IRS with "Unreported/Underreported Income (Fraud Application) theme", as well as a variation of the already profiled PhotoArchive campaign, using a well known "You don't have the latest version of Macromedia Flash Player" error message.

Let's dissect both campaigns, sharing the same fast-flux infrastructure, and currently spammed in the wild.

Sample campaign URLs from the PhotoArchive, SecretArchives themed campaign:
- archive .repok.or.kr/archive0714/?id=test@test.com
- secretarchives .renyn.kr/archive0714/?id=test@test.com
- secretfiles .repo1it.me.uk/archive0714/?id=test@test.com
- secretarchives .renyn.ne.kr/archive0714/?id=test@test.com
- postcards .repo1ix.co.uk/archive0714/?id=test@test.com 

Sample sub domain structure:
anonymousfiles .repo1i2.me.uk
archive .repo1iq.me.uk
archive .repo1it.me.uk
archives .repo1i1.me.uk
filearchive .repo1i1.me.uk
files .repo1it.me.uk
files .repo1ix.me.uk
files4friends .repo1it.me.uk
secretarchives .repo1iq.me.uk
secretarchives .repo1iw.me.uk
secretarchives .repo1ix.me.uk
secretfiles .repo1iq.me.uk
sendspace .repo1i2.me.uk

archive .repo1ix.co.uk
archives .repo1iq.co.uk
archives .repo1ix.co.uk
files .repo1iq.co.uk
files4friends .repo1ix.co.uk
incognito .repo1iq.co.uk
postcard .repo1iq.co.uk
postcard .repo1iw.co.uk
secretarchives .repo1iw.co.uk
www.irs.gov .repo1ix.co.uk

Embedded iFrame - 91.201.196.101 /ukasp/in.php (AS42229 (MARIAM-AS PP Mariam) attempts to exploit CVE-2007-5659; CVE-2008-2992; CVE-2008-0015; CVE-2009-0927 and CVE-2009-4324. Upon successful exploitation, file.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 12/41 (29.27%) is served. Just like the original update.exe - Trojan.Zbot - Result: 13/40 (32.50%) available as a manual download from the pages, both samples phone back to the well known elnasa.ru /asd/elnasa.ble - 109.95.114.71 - Email: kievsk@yandex.ru - Aleksey V Kijanskiy.

Naturally, AS42229 (MARIAM-AS PP Mariam) is a cybercrime-friendly AS, with the following currently active Zeus C&Cs parked there:
91.201.196.35
91.201.196.75
91.201.196.76
91.201.196.38
91.201.196.34
91.201.196.37

Sample URL from the IRS-themed campaign:
- irs.gov .renyn.kr/fraud.applications/application/statement.php

Sample iFrame from the IRS-themed campaign - 109.95.114.251 /usa50/in.php is currently down. The same IP was used to serve client-side exploits in a previous campaign - "Pushdo Serving Crimeware, Client-Side Exploits and Russian Bride Scams".

Detection rate for tax-statement.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 37/41 (90.25%), which upon execution phones back to the well known nekovo.ru /cbd/ nekovo.br - 109.95.115.18 - Email: kievsk@yandex.ru - Aleksey V Kijanskiy

Active and spamvertised fast-fluxed domains part of the campaign:
renya.co.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renya.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renya.ne.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renya.or.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyn.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyn.ne.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyn.or.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyo.co.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyo.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyo.ne.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyo.or.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyx.co.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyx.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyx.ne.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyx.or.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk

rep021.co.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep021.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep021.ne.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep021.or.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep022.co.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep022.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep022.ne.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep022.or.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep023.co.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com 
rep023.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep023.or.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep024.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep071.co.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep071.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep071.ne.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com

rep071.or.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep072.co.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep072.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep072.ne.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep072.or.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep073.co.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep073.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep073.ne.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep073.or.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep074.co.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep074.ne.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep074.or.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep1051.co.uk
rep1051.me.uk
rep1051.org.uk
rep1051.uk.com
repak.co.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repak.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk

repak.ne.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repak.or.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repaz.co.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repaz.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repaz.or.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repek.co.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repek.ne.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repek.or.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repey.co.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repey.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repey.ne.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repey.or.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repia.co.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repia.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repia.ne.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repia.or.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repik.co.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk

repik.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repik.or.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repok.co.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repok.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repok.ne.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repok.or.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repoy.co.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repoy.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repoy.ne.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repoy.or.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repo1i1.co.uk
repo1i1.me.uk
repo1i2.co.uk
repo1i2.me.uk
repo1i3.co.uk
repo1ie.co.uk
repo1io.co.uk
repo1iq.co.uk
repo1iq.me.uk
repo1it.me.uk
repo1iw.co.uk
repo1iw.me.uk
repo1ix.co.uk
repo1ix.me.uk

Name servers of notice:
ns1 .skcrealestate.net - 89.238.165.195 - Email: support@skrealty.net
ns1 .addressway.net - 89.238.165.195 - Email: poolbill@hotmail.com
ns1 .skcpanel.com - 64.20.42.235 - Email: support@sk.com
ns1 .holdinglory.com - 64.20.42.235 - Email: greysy@gmx.com
ns1 .skcres.com - 64.20.42.235 - Email: hr@skc.net
ns1 .x-videocovers.net - 64.20.42.235 - Email: storylink@live.com

Interestingly, researchers from M86 Security gained access to the web malware exploitation kit used in a previous campaign:

"It has been up and running and serving exploits for nearly a day. In this time almost 40,000 unique users have been exposed to these exploits, and the Zeus file has been downloaded over 5000 times. These downloads do not include the PhotoArchive.exe file downloads that a user may be tricked into downloading and executing themselves."
 
Updated will be posted as soon as new developments emerge.

Related coverage of the gang's previous campaigns:
Tax Report Themed Zeus/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild
PhotoArchive Crimeware/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild
Facebook/AOL Update Tool Spam Campaign Serving Crimeware and Client-Side Exploits
Pushdo Serving Crimeware, Client-Side Exploits and Russian Bride Scams
Outlook Web Access Themed Spam Campaign Serves Zeus Crimeware
Pushdo Injecting Bogus Swine Flu Vaccine
"Your mailbox has been deactivated" Spam Campaign Serving Crimeware
Ongoing FDIC Spam Campaign Serves Zeus Crimeware
The Multitasking Fast-Flux Botnet that Wants to Bank With You

This post has been reproduced from Dancho Danchev's blog. Follow him on Twitter. Continue reading →

IRS/PhotoArchive Themed Zeus/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild

SECOND UPDATE for Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - Another portfolio of new domains is being spamvertised, using the old PhotoArchive theme. The client-side exploits serving iFrame directory has been changed to 91.201.196.101 /usasp33/in.php currently serving CVE-2007-5659; CVE-2008-2992;     CVE-2008-0015; CVE-2009-0927 and CVE-2009-4324.

Sample detection rates: update.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 10/42 (23.81%); file.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 10/42 (23.81%). Samples phone back to the same C&C where samples from previous campaigns were also phoning back to - trollar.ru /cnf/trl.jpg - 109.95.114.133 - Email: bernardo_pr@inbox.ru.

Domains portfolio:
reda.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redb.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
reda.ne.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redb.ne.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redn.ne.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redv.ne.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redn.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
reda.co.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redv.co.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
reda.or.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redb.or.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redn.or.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redv.or.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com
redv.kr - Email: ClarenceN62412@hotmail.com

Name server of notice:
ns1.skcstaffing.com - 87.117.245.9 - Email: hr@department.com

UPDATED: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 -  Another portfolio of typosquatted domains has been spamvertised. The already suspended domains are listed for historical OSINT analysis of this gang's activities.

Interestingly, their campaigns are lacking the quality assurance I'm used to see. For instance, the iFrame IP (109.95.114.251 /usa50/in.php) is currently down, with the malware itself, including the one that would have been dropped given the exploitation took place - have over 90% detectio rate, since the binaries were first analyzed a month ago - tax-statement.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot - 40/42 (95.24%); abs.exe - Packed:W32/Mufanom.A - Result: 38/42 (90.48%). The directory structure also remains the same - irs.gov.yrxc.kr/fraud.applications /application/statement.php

Domains portfolio, including name servers of notice are as follows:
erdca.co.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdca.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdca.ne.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdca.or.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdcb.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdcd.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdce.co.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdce.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdce.ne.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdce.or.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdcq.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdcu.co.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdcu.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdcu.ne.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
erdcu.or.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxc.co.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxc.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxc.or.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxo.co.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxo.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxo.ne.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxo.or.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxs.co.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxs.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxs.ne.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com
yrxs.or.kr - Email: WeedDame16427@hotmail.com

rts1e3en.me.uk
rts1e3eq.me.uk
rts1e3ew.me.uk
rts1e3ex.me.uk
rts1e3ey.me.uk
rts1e3ez.me.uk
rts1e3eb.co.uk
rts1e3en.co.uk
rts1e3eq.co.uk
rts1e3er.co.uk
rts1e3ew.co.uk
rts1e3ex.co.uk
rts1e3ey.co.uk
rts1e3ez.co.uk

Name servers of notice:
ns1.skc-realty.com - 89.238.165.195 - Email: skc@realty.net
ns1.chinafromasia.com

UPDATED: Monday, February 22, 2010 - Another typosquatted domains portfolio is being spamvertised, including two new name servers, parked on the same IP where name servers from previous campaigns were hosted.

Typosquatted domains, and name servers of notice are as follows:
dese.co.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
dese.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
dese.ne.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
dese.or.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desr.co.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desr.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desr.or.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desv.co.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desv.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desv.ne.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desv.or.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desx.co.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desx.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desx.ne.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
desx.or.kr - Email: asondrapgt@hotmail.com
edasa.co.kr
edasa.kr
edasa.ne.kr
edasa.or.kr
edase.co.kr
edase.kr
edase.ne.kr
edase.or.kr
edasn.kr
edasn.ne.kr
edasn.or.kr
edasq.co.kr
edasq.kr
edasq.ne.kr
edasq.or.kr

Name servers of notice:
ns1.silverbrend.net - 87.117.245.9 - Email: klincz@aol.com
ns1.hourscanine.com - 87.117.245.9 - Email: carruawau@gmail.com

UPDATED: Sunday, February 21, 2010 - The gang is currently spamming a phishing campaign -- no client-side serving iFrames found so far -- attempting to steal Google account and Blogspot accounting data. Given the fact that the gang is capable of generating hundreds of thousands of bogus accounts on their own, as well as buy them in bulk orders from vendors that have already built such an inventory across multiple social networking sites, the only logical reason for attempting to phish for such data would be to attempt to maliciously monetize the traffic of legitimate blogs.

The newly spamvertised domains, including a new name server are as follows:
esub.co.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esub.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esub.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esug.co.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esug.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esug.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esuk.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esuk.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esuk.or.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esus.co.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esus.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esus.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esut.co.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esut.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
esut.ne.kr - Email: osamplerl61@hotmail.com
ns1.nitroexcel.com - 89.238.165.195 (the same IP was also hosting the name server domains from previous campaigns) - Email: rackmodule@writemail.com

UPDATED: Saturday, February 20, 2010 - The client-side exploit serving iFrame directory has been changed to 91.201.196.101 /usasp11/in.php, with another typosquatted portfolio of domains currently being spamvertised.

Detection rates: update.exe - Trojan.Zbot - Result: 25/40 (62.5%) (phones back to trollar.ru /cnf/trl.jpg - 109.95.114.133 - Email: bernardo_pr@inbox.ru); file.exe - Trojan.Spy.ZBot.12544.1 - Result: 26/41 (63.42%);  ie.js - JS:CVE-2008-0015-G - Result: 14/40 (35%); ie2.js - Exploit:JS/CVE-2008-0015 - Result: 17/40 (42.5%); nowTrue.swf - Trojan.SWF.Dropper.E - Result: 24/41 (58.54%); pdf.pdf - Exploit.JS.Pdfka.bln - Result: 11/41 (26.83%); swf.swf - SWF/Exploit.Agent.BS - Result: 8/40 (20%).

Domain portfolio, name server of notice - ns1.vektoroils.net - 74.117.63.218 - Email: admin@forsyte.info :
desa.co.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desa.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desa.ne.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desa.or.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desb.co.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desb.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desb.ne.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desb.or.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
deso.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
deso.or.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desv.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desz.co.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desz.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desz.ne.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk
desz.or.kr - Email: hjfeasey@yahoo.co.uk

UPDATED: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - The iFrame directory has been changed to 91.201.196.101 /usasp/in.php, detection rate for update.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 17/40 (42.5%).

Currently active and spamvertised domains include:
saqwk.co.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwk.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwk.ne.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwk.or.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwm.co.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwm.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwm.ne.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwq.co.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwq.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwq.ne.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwq.or.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwz.co.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwz.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwz.ne.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com
saqwz.or.kr - Email: Camerc05@yahoo.com

As anticipated, the botnet masters behind the systematically rotated campaigns dissected in previous posts, kick off the week with multiple campaigns parked on the newly introduced fast-fluxed domains.

In a typical multitasking fashion, two campaigns are currently active on different sub domains introduced at the typosquatted fast-flux ones, impersonating the U.S IRS with "Unreported/Underreported Income (Fraud Application) theme", as well as a variation of the already profiled PhotoArchive campaign, using a well known "You don't have the latest version of Macromedia Flash Player" error message.

Let's dissect both campaigns, sharing the same fast-flux infrastructure, and currently spammed in the wild.

Sample campaign URLs from the PhotoArchive, SecretArchives themed campaign:
- archive .repok.or.kr/archive0714/?id=test@test.com
- secretarchives .renyn.kr/archive0714/?id=test@test.com
- secretfiles .repo1it.me.uk/archive0714/?id=test@test.com
- secretarchives .renyn.ne.kr/archive0714/?id=test@test.com
- postcards .repo1ix.co.uk/archive0714/?id=test@test.com 

Sample sub domain structure:
anonymousfiles .repo1i2.me.uk
archive .repo1iq.me.uk
archive .repo1it.me.uk
archives .repo1i1.me.uk
filearchive .repo1i1.me.uk
files .repo1it.me.uk
files .repo1ix.me.uk
files4friends .repo1it.me.uk
secretarchives .repo1iq.me.uk
secretarchives .repo1iw.me.uk
secretarchives .repo1ix.me.uk
secretfiles .repo1iq.me.uk
sendspace .repo1i2.me.uk

archive .repo1ix.co.uk
archives .repo1iq.co.uk
archives .repo1ix.co.uk
files .repo1iq.co.uk
files4friends .repo1ix.co.uk
incognito .repo1iq.co.uk
postcard .repo1iq.co.uk
postcard .repo1iw.co.uk
secretarchives .repo1iw.co.uk
www.irs.gov .repo1ix.co.uk

Embedded iFrame - 91.201.196.101 /ukasp/in.php (AS42229 (MARIAM-AS PP Mariam) attempts to exploit CVE-2007-5659; CVE-2008-2992; CVE-2008-0015; CVE-2009-0927 and CVE-2009-4324. Upon successful exploitation, file.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 12/41 (29.27%) is served. Just like the original update.exe - Trojan.Zbot - Result: 13/40 (32.50%) available as a manual download from the pages, both samples phone back to the well known elnasa.ru /asd/elnasa.ble - 109.95.114.71 - Email: kievsk@yandex.ru - Aleksey V Kijanskiy.

Naturally, AS42229 (MARIAM-AS PP Mariam) is a cybercrime-friendly AS, with the following currently active Zeus C&Cs parked there:
91.201.196.35
91.201.196.75
91.201.196.76
91.201.196.38
91.201.196.34
91.201.196.37

Sample URL from the IRS-themed campaign:
- irs.gov .renyn.kr/fraud.applications/application/statement.php

Sample iFrame from the IRS-themed campaign - 109.95.114.251 /usa50/in.php is currently down. The same IP was used to serve client-side exploits in a previous campaign - "Pushdo Serving Crimeware, Client-Side Exploits and Russian Bride Scams".

Detection rate for tax-statement.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 37/41 (90.25%), which upon execution phones back to the well known nekovo.ru /cbd/ nekovo.br - 109.95.115.18 - Email: kievsk@yandex.ru - Aleksey V Kijanskiy

Active and spamvertised fast-fluxed domains part of the campaign:
renya.co.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renya.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renya.ne.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renya.or.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyn.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyn.ne.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyn.or.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyo.co.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyo.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyo.ne.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyo.or.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyx.co.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyx.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyx.ne.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk
renyx.or.kr - Email: Sethdc77@yahoo.co.uk

rep021.co.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep021.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep021.ne.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep021.or.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep022.co.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep022.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep022.ne.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep022.or.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep023.co.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com 
rep023.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep023.or.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep024.kr - Email: DRendell3407@hotmail.com
rep071.co.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep071.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep071.ne.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com

rep071.or.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep072.co.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep072.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep072.ne.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep072.or.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep073.co.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep073.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep073.ne.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep073.or.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep074.co.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep074.ne.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep074.or.kr - Email: KantuM37690@hotmail.com
rep1051.co.uk
rep1051.me.uk
rep1051.org.uk
rep1051.uk.com
repak.co.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repak.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk

repak.ne.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repak.or.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repaz.co.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repaz.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repaz.or.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repek.co.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repek.ne.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repek.or.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repey.co.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repey.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repey.ne.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repey.or.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repia.co.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repia.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repia.ne.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repia.or.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repik.co.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk

repik.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repik.or.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repok.co.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repok.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repok.ne.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repok.or.kr - Email: limhomeslm@yahoo.co.uk
repoy.co.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repoy.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repoy.ne.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repoy.or.kr - Email: Olb55768@yahoo.co.uk
repo1i1.co.uk
repo1i1.me.uk
repo1i2.co.uk
repo1i2.me.uk
repo1i3.co.uk
repo1ie.co.uk
repo1io.co.uk
repo1iq.co.uk
repo1iq.me.uk
repo1it.me.uk
repo1iw.co.uk
repo1iw.me.uk
repo1ix.co.uk
repo1ix.me.uk

Name servers of notice:
ns1 .skcrealestate.net - 89.238.165.195 - Email: support@skrealty.net
ns1 .addressway.net - 89.238.165.195 - Email: poolbill@hotmail.com
ns1 .skcpanel.com - 64.20.42.235 - Email: support@sk.com
ns1 .holdinglory.com - 64.20.42.235 - Email: greysy@gmx.com
ns1 .skcres.com - 64.20.42.235 - Email: hr@skc.net
ns1 .x-videocovers.net - 64.20.42.235 - Email: storylink@live.com

Interestingly, researchers from M86 Security gained access to the web malware exploitation kit used in a previous campaign:

"It has been up and running and serving exploits for nearly a day. In this time almost 40,000 unique users have been exposed to these exploits, and the Zeus file has been downloaded over 5000 times. These downloads do not include the PhotoArchive.exe file downloads that a user may be tricked into downloading and executing themselves."
 
Updated will be posted as soon as new developments emerge.

Related coverage of the gang's previous campaigns:
Tax Report Themed Zeus/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild
PhotoArchive Crimeware/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild
Facebook/AOL Update Tool Spam Campaign Serving Crimeware and Client-Side Exploits
Pushdo Serving Crimeware, Client-Side Exploits and Russian Bride Scams
Outlook Web Access Themed Spam Campaign Serves Zeus Crimeware
Pushdo Injecting Bogus Swine Flu Vaccine
"Your mailbox has been deactivated" Spam Campaign Serving Crimeware
Ongoing FDIC Spam Campaign Serves Zeus Crimeware
The Multitasking Fast-Flux Botnet that Wants to Bank With You

This post has been reproduced from Dancho Danchev's blog. Follow him on Twitter. Continue reading →

Dissecting an Ongoing Money Mule Recruitment Campaign

Money mule recruiters can be sometimes described as mass-marketing zombies, who have absolutely no idea who they're trying to recruit. Cefin Consulting & Finance - cefincf .com - 195.190.13.106 - Email: flier@infotorrent.ru is the very latest example of such a campaign, trying to recruit, well, me.

The initial recruitment email was spammed from maximumsxz78@roulottesste-anne.com with IP 221.154.76.195:
"Cefin Consulting & Finanace is one of the leading providers of consulting services in the world. Our success depends both on high quality of services and on professionally managed and reliable business processes. This is the reason why quality is our main concern. However, the only way to reach top-notch quality in our business is permanent struggle for quality and engineering of stable procedures. It is not possible to reach high quality standards without dedicated personnel striving for flawless operation of processes and projects in their daily life. 

Currently we have a Financial Manager opening. No deadlines for applications are set. The job of Financial Manager includes processing of money transfers, sent to his personal bank accounts by company clients. Upon receiving a transfer the Financial Manager has to redirect it to the account specified by our dispatchers. All you need for this job are: 3-4 free hours a day, your wish, ability to work in a team and responsibility. The initial wages will equal 5% of total monthly turnover.

Requirements to Candidates:
- 20 years old and more
- Be able to check your email several times a day
- Should have personal (or business) bank account
- Have a skill to communicate and access to the Internet.
- Foreign language (English is preferable).
- To have an opportunity in any working hours to go to closest Western Union location and make money transfer .

What we offer:
- Generous wages - (Your earnings will originally make 5 % from each payment. Your earnings will originally make 5 % from each payment. After 5 remittances if you will operatively work and correctly, your earnings raises up to 10 %. )
- Opportunity of increase in your earnings.
- Free seminars and training courses (After 6 months of great work).

2010 © Cefin Consulting & FinanaceIf you are interested in this opening, don't hesitate to send your CV at our e-mail:  cefincfss@yahoo.com All right reserved."

Response received from cefincfss@yahoo.com with IP 91.207.4.162, asking for the following details, althrough the DIY money-mule recruitment management interface automates the entire process, thereby allowing it to scale:
"If you have understood the meaning of work and ready to begin working with us, please send us your INFO in the following format:

1) First name; 2) Last name; 3) Country; 4) City; 5) Zip code; 6) Home Phone number, Work Phone number, Mobile Phone number; 7) Bank account info:; a) Bank name; b) Account name; c) Account number; d) Sort code; 8) Scan you passport or driver license"

The CV forwarding email provided is mynesco@yahoo.com, although they'll even recruit you without sending them the required CV.

What's special about the bogus company, is not the new template layout that they've purchased from a vendor offering creative for money-mule recruitment campaign, but their attempt to establish themselves as a trusted brand by featuring fake certificates issued by easily recognizable brands, such as Western Union, Money Gram, Investors in People, the World Business Community and even an award from the Chamber Awards for 2004 in the category - "Most Promising New Business".

Moreover, parked on the very same IP where the money mule recruitment is, are also domains currently serving live exploits, as well as a DIY interface for a spamming service known as "OS-CORP".

The certificates in question:

Cefin Consulting & Finance describes itself as:
"Cefin consulting & Finance was founded at the beginning of 1990. The emerged structure united specialists with unique background in management consulting, marketing research, business evaluation and stock-exchange operations.The following two companies constitute Cefin consulting & Finance:
 
- Omega Financial Dept. - the dedicated company in the field of securities operations;
- Omega Consult - the dedicated consulting company, rendering services in strategic planning and corporate management.

Activity of Cefin consulting & Finance is focused on generation of balanced solutions for active development of the company and minimization of business risks.

Cefin consulting & Finance offers successful managerial solutions through consulting support to projects in various spheres, namely: comprehensive restructuring and organizational development, generation of managing companies, engineering of tailored management systems for corporate clients, implementation of project management methods, business development financial and economic simulation. 

Top-notch dedicated professionals with key competence in various consulting fields constitute our rigorous staff. We boast to have management consulting and business strategy development experts, certified securities dealers, assessment and registration, marketing and financial specialists, corporate law and anti-monopoly legislation gurus. Address: Cefin consulting & Finance is located at 510 East 80th Street, New York, New York 10021 , United States 786-475-3994; 786-475-3994 (FAX)"

The money mule recruitment domain cefincf .com - 195.190.13.106 - Email: flier@infotorrent.ru remains active. Parked on the same IP are also the following domains, currently hosting live exploit kits:
384756783900 .cn - Email: abuse@domainsreg.cn
109438129432 .cn - Email: abuse@domainsreg.cn
234273849543 .cn - Email: abuse@domainsreg.cn
783456788839 .cn - Email: abuse@domainsreg.cn
odnaklasniki .cn - Email: Michell.Gregory2009@yahoo.com - Email profiled in December 2009's "Celebrity-Themed Scareware Campaign Abusing DocStoc" - money mule recruitment connection
mynes-consultings .cn - Email: grishanizov@gmail.com
mynes-consult .cn - Email: grishanizov@gmail.com

Sample live exploit structure, currently active at these domains:
- mynes-consult .cn -> if exploitation is not possible, the user is redirected to the legitimate newegg.com
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=mdac
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=buddy
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=myspace
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=vml2
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=ymj
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=zango1
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=zango2

All of these exploits drop load.exe - TrojanDownloader:Win32/Cutwail.gen!C - Result: 41/41 (100.00%), which upon execution phones back to 69.162.86.210.

With cybercriminals actively multi-tasking these days, this money mule recruitment gang doesn't make an exception. On one of the domains listed above, a low-profile DIY spamming service known as OS-CORP is offering its services.

The DIY spam service, also has Terms of Service and offers basic spamming recommendations. The following is a roughly translated version of them:
"- No child Porno spamming!
- Do not offer me affiliate program (% of sales), I do not care!
- ICQ almost always online, but this does not mean that I always present! If you have not received an answer immediately have patience, I will answer as soon as appearing!
- Mailing lists on bases of certain subjects are more expensive!
- I am not responsible for your campaigns and sites sites that are sometimes nailed in the process of spam! Use anti-abuse hosting!
- I'm not offering anti-abuse hosting services!
- I don't offer recommendations for such services. I give only the services that spam!
- Campaign's size should be UP TO 50 kb! 

Recommendations for the preparation of material for delivery! 
- Do not always send the same text messages, ideally, to change the text after each mailing, the effect of there!
- Do not use themes in writing (headers) words such as EARN, OFFER, do not put a lot of exclamation marks and other (better do without them), just one!
- For a good response from countries whose native language is not English (eg Sweden, Spain, Denmark, etc.) is highly desirable to use the native language of the text distributed to countries, it gives a wonderful effect, and should not be mistaken, in countries such not everyone knows English, verified repeatedly!
- Do not write too long texts on a number of reasons this does not give a positive effect, but not limited to one sentence worth! Ideally, make the text in a few not particularly bulky paragraphs!"

The deeper your analyze, the more malicious, and most importantly, inter-connected it gets.

Related coverage of money laundering in the context of cybercrime:
Keeping Money Mule Recruiters on a Short Leash - Part Two
Keeping Reshipping Mule Recruiters on a Short Leash
Keeping Money Mule Recruiters on a Short Leash
Standardizing the Money Mule Recruitment Process
Money Mule Recruiters use ASProx's Fast Fluxing Services
Money Mules Syndicate Actively Recruiting Since 2002
Inside a Money Laundering Group's Spamming Operations

This post has been reproduced from Dancho Danchev's blog. Follow him on Twitter. Continue reading →

Dissecting an Ongoing Money Mule Recruitment Campaign

Money mule recruiters can be sometimes described as mass-marketing zombies, who have absolutely no idea who they're trying to recruit. Cefin Consulting & Finance - cefincf .com - 195.190.13.106 - Email: flier@infotorrent.ru is the very latest example of such a campaign, trying to recruit, well, me.

The initial recruitment email was spammed from maximumsxz78@roulottesste-anne.com with IP 221.154.76.195:
"Cefin Consulting & Finanace is one of the leading providers of consulting services in the world. Our success depends both on high quality of services and on professionally managed and reliable business processes. This is the reason why quality is our main concern. However, the only way to reach top-notch quality in our business is permanent struggle for quality and engineering of stable procedures. It is not possible to reach high quality standards without dedicated personnel striving for flawless operation of processes and projects in their daily life. 

Currently we have a Financial Manager opening. No deadlines for applications are set. The job of Financial Manager includes processing of money transfers, sent to his personal bank accounts by company clients. Upon receiving a transfer the Financial Manager has to redirect it to the account specified by our dispatchers. All you need for this job are: 3-4 free hours a day, your wish, ability to work in a team and responsibility. The initial wages will equal 5% of total monthly turnover.

Requirements to Candidates:
- 20 years old and more
- Be able to check your email several times a day
- Should have personal (or business) bank account
- Have a skill to communicate and access to the Internet.
- Foreign language (English is preferable).
- To have an opportunity in any working hours to go to closest Western Union location and make money transfer .

What we offer:
- Generous wages - (Your earnings will originally make 5 % from each payment. Your earnings will originally make 5 % from each payment. After 5 remittances if you will operatively work and correctly, your earnings raises up to 10 %. )
- Opportunity of increase in your earnings.
- Free seminars and training courses (After 6 months of great work).

2010 © Cefin Consulting & FinanaceIf you are interested in this opening, don't hesitate to send your CV at our e-mail:  cefincfss@yahoo.com All right reserved."

Response received from cefincfss@yahoo.com with IP 91.207.4.162, asking for the following details, althrough the DIY money-mule recruitment management interface automates the entire process, thereby allowing it to scale:
"If you have understood the meaning of work and ready to begin working with us, please send us your INFO in the following format:

1) First name; 2) Last name; 3) Country; 4) City; 5) Zip code; 6) Home Phone number, Work Phone number, Mobile Phone number; 7) Bank account info:; a) Bank name; b) Account name; c) Account number; d) Sort code; 8) Scan you passport or driver license"

The CV forwarding email provided is mynesco@yahoo.com, although they'll even recruit you without sending them the required CV.

What's special about the bogus company, is not the new template layout that they've purchased from a vendor offering creative for money-mule recruitment campaign, but their attempt to establish themselves as a trusted brand by featuring fake certificates issued by easily recognizable brands, such as Western Union, Money Gram, Investors in People, the World Business Community and even an award from the Chamber Awards for 2004 in the category - "Most Promising New Business".

Moreover, parked on the very same IP where the money mule recruitment is, are also domains currently serving live exploits, as well as a DIY interface for a spamming service known as "OS-CORP".

The certificates in question:

Cefin Consulting & Finance describes itself as:
"Cefin consulting & Finance was founded at the beginning of 1990. The emerged structure united specialists with unique background in management consulting, marketing research, business evaluation and stock-exchange operations.The following two companies constitute Cefin consulting & Finance:
 
- Omega Financial Dept. - the dedicated company in the field of securities operations;
- Omega Consult - the dedicated consulting company, rendering services in strategic planning and corporate management.

Activity of Cefin consulting & Finance is focused on generation of balanced solutions for active development of the company and minimization of business risks.

Cefin consulting & Finance offers successful managerial solutions through consulting support to projects in various spheres, namely: comprehensive restructuring and organizational development, generation of managing companies, engineering of tailored management systems for corporate clients, implementation of project management methods, business development financial and economic simulation. 

Top-notch dedicated professionals with key competence in various consulting fields constitute our rigorous staff. We boast to have management consulting and business strategy development experts, certified securities dealers, assessment and registration, marketing and financial specialists, corporate law and anti-monopoly legislation gurus. Address: Cefin consulting & Finance is located at 510 East 80th Street, New York, New York 10021 , United States 786-475-3994; 786-475-3994 (FAX)"

The money mule recruitment domain cefincf .com - 195.190.13.106 - Email: flier@infotorrent.ru remains active. Parked on the same IP are also the following domains, currently hosting live exploit kits:
384756783900 .cn - Email: abuse@domainsreg.cn
109438129432 .cn - Email: abuse@domainsreg.cn
234273849543 .cn - Email: abuse@domainsreg.cn
783456788839 .cn - Email: abuse@domainsreg.cn
odnaklasniki .cn - Email: Michell.Gregory2009@yahoo.com - Email profiled in December 2009's "Celebrity-Themed Scareware Campaign Abusing DocStoc" - money mule recruitment connection
mynes-consultings .cn - Email: grishanizov@gmail.com
mynes-consult .cn - Email: grishanizov@gmail.com

Sample live exploit structure, currently active at these domains:
- mynes-consult .cn -> if exploitation is not possible, the user is redirected to the legitimate newegg.com
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=mdac
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=buddy
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=myspace
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=vml2
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=ymj
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=zango1
    - mynes-consult .cn/load.php?spl=zango2

All of these exploits drop load.exe - TrojanDownloader:Win32/Cutwail.gen!C - Result: 41/41 (100.00%), which upon execution phones back to 69.162.86.210.

With cybercriminals actively multi-tasking these days, this money mule recruitment gang doesn't make an exception. On one of the domains listed above, a low-profile DIY spamming service known as OS-CORP is offering its services.

The DIY spam service, also has Terms of Service and offers basic spamming recommendations. The following is a roughly translated version of them:
"- No child Porno spamming!
- Do not offer me affiliate program (% of sales), I do not care!
- ICQ almost always online, but this does not mean that I always present! If you have not received an answer immediately have patience, I will answer as soon as appearing!
- Mailing lists on bases of certain subjects are more expensive!
- I am not responsible for your campaigns and sites sites that are sometimes nailed in the process of spam! Use anti-abuse hosting!
- I'm not offering anti-abuse hosting services!
- I don't offer recommendations for such services. I give only the services that spam!
- Campaign's size should be UP TO 50 kb! 

Recommendations for the preparation of material for delivery! 
- Do not always send the same text messages, ideally, to change the text after each mailing, the effect of there!
- Do not use themes in writing (headers) words such as EARN, OFFER, do not put a lot of exclamation marks and other (better do without them), just one!
- For a good response from countries whose native language is not English (eg Sweden, Spain, Denmark, etc.) is highly desirable to use the native language of the text distributed to countries, it gives a wonderful effect, and should not be mistaken, in countries such not everyone knows English, verified repeatedly!
- Do not write too long texts on a number of reasons this does not give a positive effect, but not limited to one sentence worth! Ideally, make the text in a few not particularly bulky paragraphs!"

The deeper your analyze, the more malicious, and most importantly, inter-connected it gets.

Related coverage of money laundering in the context of cybercrime:
Keeping Money Mule Recruiters on a Short Leash - Part Two
Keeping Reshipping Mule Recruiters on a Short Leash
Keeping Money Mule Recruiters on a Short Leash
Standardizing the Money Mule Recruitment Process
Money Mule Recruiters use ASProx's Fast Fluxing Services
Money Mules Syndicate Actively Recruiting Since 2002
Inside a Money Laundering Group's Spamming Operations

This post has been reproduced from Dancho Danchev's blog. Follow him on Twitter. Continue reading →

'Anonymous' Group's DDoS Operation Titstorm

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'Anonymous' Group's DDoS Operation Titstorm

With last months 'Anonymous' Group's DDoS Operation Titstorm campaign a clear success based on the real-time monitoring of the crowdsourcing-driven attack, it's time to take a brief retrospective on the tools and tactics used, and relate

•  Go through an analysis of 2009's failed Operation Didgeridie DDoS campaign

Why is Operation Titstorm an important one to profile? Not only because it worked compared to Operation Didgeridie, but also, due to the fact that crowdsourcing driven (malicious culture of participation) DDoS attacks have proven themselves throughout the past several years, as an alternative to DDoS for hire attacks.


- DIY ICMP flooders
- Web based multiple iFrame loaders to consume server CPU
- Web based email bombing tools+predefined lists of emails belonging to government officials/employees




Go through related posts on crowdsourcing DDoS attacks/malicious culture of participation:
Coordinated Russia vs Georgia cyber attack in progress
Iranian opposition launches organized cyber attack against pro-Ahmadinejad sites
People's Information Warfare Concept
Electronic Jihad v3.0 - What Cyber Jihad Isn't
Electronic Jihad's Targets List
The DDoS Attack Against CNN.com
Chinese Hacktivists Waging People's Information Warfare Against CNN
The Russia vs Georgia Cyber Attack
Real-Time OSINT vs Historical OSINT in Russia/Georgia Cyberattacks
Pro-Israeli (Pseudo) Cyber Warriors Want your Bandwidth
Iranian Opposition DDoS-es pro-Ahmadinejad Sites

This post has been reproduced from Dancho Danchev's blog. Follow him on Twitter. Continue reading →

Tax Report Themed Zeus/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild

A currently ongoing malware campaign courtesy of the gang that's been busy rotation themes over the past few weeks, has changed the theme to "You are in a higher tax bracket", and continues serving client-side exploits next to a Zeus crimeware sample using a bogus "You don't have the latest version of Macromedia Flash Player" error message.

- Sample URL: rep1031 .be/reports/getreport.php?email=email - Email: souchuck@yahoo.com. The following currently suspended domains are also involved - rep1032 .be; rep1030.me .uk; rep1031.me .uk; rep1032.me .uk; rep1030.co .uk; rep1031.co .uk; rep1032.co .uk; rep1043.me .uk; rep1041.co .uk; rep1032.co .uk

- UPDATED: The most recently spamvertised domains include:
rep1041 .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1042 .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1043 .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1044 .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1041.ne .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1042.ne .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1043.ne .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1041.co .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1042.co .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1043.co .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1044.co .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1041.or .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1042.or .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1043.or .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com
rep1044.or .kr - Email: Souchuck@yahoo.com

- Sample detection rate:
update.exe - PWS:Win32/Zbot.RS - Result: 8/41 (19.52%); MD5: 44028f0e2fa3ec70507992cb0684ff58

- Name servers of notice:
ns1.socialworc .net - 87.117.245.9 - Email:  storylink@live.com
ns1.trihtmens .net - 87.117.245.9
ns1.inserthelping .net - suspended
ns1.citysatellites .net - down

- Sample message: "Dear taxpayer, The Federal income tax is a progressive tax, meaning that the more you earn, the higher your tax rate. Your tax rate depends not just upon your taxable income, but also upon your filing status (single, married filing jointly, etc.). You're in a higher tax bracket because: - your annual income for the last tax year has increased. Please review your annual tax report immediately at: get report."

- Sample iFrame used: 109.95.115.36 /uzs/in.php also used in last week's PhotoArchive campaign; - AS50215 - Troyak-as Starchenko Roman Fedorovich - akanyovskiy@troyak.org; akanyovskiy@vishclub.net and serving CVE-2007-5659; CVE-2008-2992; CVE-2009-0927; CVE-2009-4324.

- Sample malware detection rate/phone back C&Cs: update.exe - Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot.gen - Result: 8/41 (19.52%), MD5: f15d88ac3e381aeb6b3779b0dd7042ce.

Upon execution phones back to trollar .ru/cnf/trl.jpg - 109.95.114.133 - Email: bernardo_pr@inbox.ru; AS50369 - VISHCLUB-AS Kanyovskiy Andriy Yuriyovich. Email was also used to register the Zeus C&C from last week's "PhotoArchive Crimeware/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild" campaign.

- Name servers of notice: ns1.gompley .net - 74.117.63.218 - Email: storylink@live.com; ns1.hoocky .net - 74.117.63.218 - Email: footboolfan7@aol.com, also known to have been parked on the same IP are ns1.allhostinfo .com - Email: line@metalfan.com; ns1.helpgoldbank .net - Email: glonders@gmail.com and ns1.drowthdb .com.

- Second portfolio of related name servers: the second portfolio is parked at 62.19.3.2 - ns1.faktorypro .com - Email: poolbill@hotmail.com; ns1.x-videocovers .net - Email: storylink@live.com; ns1.serwisezone .net - Email: line@metalfan.com; ns1.guarantexpres .com; ns1.respectiveowners .net

Updates will be posted as soon as new developments emerge.

Related coverage of the gang's previous campaigns:
PhotoArchive Crimeware/Client-Side Exploits Serving Campaign in the Wild
Facebook/AOL Update Tool Spam Campaign Serving Crimeware and Client-Side Exploits
Pushdo Serving Crimeware, Client-Side Exploits and Russian Bride Scams
Outlook Web Access Themed Spam Campaign Serves Zeus Crimeware
Pushdo Injecting Bogus Swine Flu Vaccine
"Your mailbox has been deactivated" Spam Campaign Serving Crimeware
Ongoing FDIC Spam Campaign Serves Zeus Crimeware
The Multitasking Fast-Flux Botnet that Wants to Bank With You

This post has been reproduced from Dancho Danchev's blog. Follow him on Twitter. Continue reading →