Fake Facebook password request email carries malware

Not ones to miss an opportunity, malware peddlers are piggybacking on the fact that Facebook is blocking the accounts of certain users and demanding they change their passwords in the wake of the Adobe breach, and have begun sending out malicious password request emails.

“Hello, You have received a secure message. You will be prompted to open (view) the file or save (download) it to your computer. For best results, save the file first, then open it,” says the email that sports some typical Facebook design and a spoofed “From” field. “Read your secure message by opening the attachment, Facebook-SecureMessage.zip.”

Unfortunately for those who fall for the trick and do as instructed, the attachment carries an executable (Transaction_{_tracking}.exe) that, according to Malwr, collects information to fingerprint the system, modifies local firewall’s policies and settings, steals private information from browsers, and ensures its own persistency by making the system run it every time Windows is rebooted.

It also contacts the Signsaheadgalway.com domain, and possibly downloads other potentially malicious files from it.