Backdoor Agent Infects ACH Clients with Fake Successful Transaction Notice

A Backdoor Agent is circulating with the aim of infecting Automated Clearing House clients via a fake payment receipt attached to notification e-mails, Bitdefender Labs has found. The e-mails are part of a rising wave of spam messages that carry a Trojan meant to grab users’ credit card details.

“WIRE transaction is completed. $XXX has been successfully transferred. If the transaction was made by mistake please contact our customer service. Receipt on payment is attached,” the spam e-mail reads

Clicking on the archive with the fake PDF attachment infects ACH clients with a Backdoor.Agent, a type of malware that gives cyber-criminals access to their system and network resources. Banking details are also targeted by attackers, who are able to catch keystrokes without users’ consent.

Bitdefender blocks the Backdoor.Agent and protects users’ privacy and personal information. The company advises users to keep their software, operating system and antivirus updated. They should also avoid running executable files that claim to be updates or PDF files.

This is not the first time ACH users are targeted by malware. In November 2011, a bank refusal e-mail came loaded with a Trojan unleashed by a fake flash.exe update. Bogus ACH failure notifications have also been used to spread a variant of the ZeuS banking Trojan.

The Automated Clearing House is an electronic network frequently used for financial transactions in the US. ACH processes large volumes of credit and debit transactions in batches.

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This article is based on the technical information provided courtesy of Daniel Ichim, Bitdefender Spam Researcher.