{
  "timestamp": "2025-02-05T23:33:54.207615",
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        "content": "You are a cybersecurity expert analyzing company website content and product documentation.\n            Focus on clear explanations of security features, compliance certifications, and practical user guidance."
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        "content": "\n            Provide a comprehensive analysis of the following security-related content.\n            \n            Content to analyze:\n            Search Free Trial Get Demo Trickbot Banking Trojan Making Phishing More Real August 14, 2017 Trickbot is back, new and improved, and was found targeting customers of Lloyds Bank of the UK last week in a renewed phishing campaign intended to steal online banking users security codes. The updated version of the malware, which first appeared last year, uses new techniques to make it even more difficult for the casual user to notice anything unusual when their browser session is hijacked, and their credentials and security codes are being stolen. Shows Legitimate URL and SSL Certificates Trickbot takes the phishing of banking credentials to another level by showing the correct URL of the online bank and confirmation of a legitimate SSL certificate, so even more alert users who pay any attention to these sorts of details will not see anything unusual. Most phishing malware pages may have careful design and look like the real deal, but they never have the correct URL. Here, the usual subtle clues to a phishing site are missing, because the URL is entirely correct, as is the digital certificate. Necurs Botnet Again The Necurs botnet, the largest active botnet operating today and notorious for sending ransomware and banking-related malware like Dridex, is the distribution mechanism behind this Trickbot spam campaign. Necurs appears to be an important player in the Malware as a Service economy, allowing its criminal customers to pre-order airtime and the use of servers. Trickbot is being actively managed, with frequent changes in tactics and the banks being targeted, implying that all banks should be on alert. Impersonating Lloyds Bank In the specific campaign for which these new techniques were detected by Cyren last week, a large number of spam e-mails were sent to UK email users falsely claiming to be from Lloyds Bank. The e-mails that were sent are well-produced HTML emails example below, with the from field showing as Lloyds Bank. To give a sense of attack volume, in one short 25-minute time window, Cyren saw and blocked 75,000 of these emails for its customers. Picture 1. Spoofed e-mail from Lloyds Bank While it shows the sender as Lloyds Bank, in this example, if you carefully inspect the sender address you can see that the e-mail is from lloydsbacs.co.uk not lloydsbank.co.uk, a very similar domain which was just created. Most but not all of the emails are being sent from a Dutch IP 5.149.255.107, which is a previously known source of spam. This IP seems to host many malicious domains as well as the malicious domain in use here lloydsbacs.co.uk. Picture 2. Close-up of address block Picture 3. lloydsbank.co.uk is displayed to the user How It Works There are no links in the phishing e-mail. The e-mail contains an Excel document with a malicious macro that, if enabled, downloads Trickbot and runs it on the victims computer. After the computer has been infected with Trickbot, the malware runs in the background and waits for the victim to visit their online bank. When the potential victim attempts to visit the very legitimate www.lloydsbank.co.uk , the target of this specific campaign, they are redirected by the malware to a malicious imitation of the real site. Now for the tricky part  the malware will access the URL www.lloydsbank.co.uk at the same time, and by using HTML and JavaScript the malicious site is able to display on the malicious page the correct URL and the digital SSL certificate from the genuine site . The e-mail has an Excel document attached called IncomingBACs.xlsm. After opening the attachment Excel asks the user to enable editing and then to enable macros. Picture 4. Enable Preview request Picture 5. Enable Content request for Macro After pressing the Enable Content button in Excel the macro runs and creates a .bat file in a Temp folder called Vrlhdf.bat and runs it APPDATALocalTemp. The bat file opens up PowerShell.exe, which downloads an executable file under the name logo.png, and then stores it at the same place as Qeggfkf.exe. The bat file has two different URLs from which the logo.png file can be downloaded, a redundancy in case one of them is taken down, we presume. After downloading the file, PowerShell runs Qeggfkf.exe. Picture 6. Vrlhdf.bat Qeggfkf.exe then creates a copy of itself under AppDataRoamingwinapp as Pdffeje.exe, creates an authroot certificate file in TEMP, creates a service updated job in the Windows Task folder, and then starts the Pdffeje.exe process and kills the Qeggfkf.exe. Pdffeje.exe is the main TrickBot process. Picture 7. The folder the Qeggfkf.exe creates Picture 8. Pdffeje.exe process Trickbot has an encoded configuration module in the resource section of its binary and is able to receive new modules from a list of controller domains. Picture 9. The list of controller domains Cyren detects this version of Trickbot as W32TrickBot.E. The sample analyzed was Pdffeje.exe md5 f19e7ef1e82daab85cf1f4b23737e914 For an overview on the phishing phenomenon, download Cyrens special threat report on phishing .  This blog was updated with additional details on August 15, 2017. Try it for Free Instant Data Classification Cyren URL Category Chacker Prev What is a Botnet Attack? 6 Ways to Identify and Prevent It New Cyren Threat Report The Malware Wars Next Company Partners Resources Investor Relations Products Freeware Demo Solutions Contact Us Privacy Management Service by Data443\n            \n            Your analysis should cover:\n            1. Key security features and their benefits to users\n            2. Compliance certifications and regulatory adherence\n            3. User-focused security recommendations\n            4. Technical security implementation details\n            5. Data protection measures\n            6. Best practices for end users\n            "
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    "model": "deepseek/deepseek-r1-distill-llama-70b"
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  "response": {
    "content": "**Analysis of Trickbot Banking Trojan Phishing Campaign**\n\n**1. Security Features and Benefits to Users**\n\n- **Advanced Detection Mechanisms**: Cyren's solution detects Trickbot as W32TrickBot.E, providing timely alerts and threat blocking, which helps protect users from credential theft.\n- **URL and SSL Certificate Verification**: Trickbot's ability to display legitimate URLs and SSL certificates highlights the importance of enhanced detection tools, which can identify such sophisticated threats.\n\n**2. Compliance and Regulatory Adherence**\n\n- **EU GDPR Compliance**: Targeting a UK bank suggests implications under GDPR. Ensuring data protection measures align with GDPR can help mitigate legal and financial risks.\n- **Data Protection Regulations**: Compliance with regulations like PCI DSS for financial institutions is crucial to safeguard sensitive customer data.\n\n**3. User-Focused Security Recommendations**\n\n- **Inspect Sender Addresses**: Users should verify sender domains for authenticity to avoid falling for spoofed emails.\n- **Caution with Attachments**: Avoid opening suspicious attachments and enabling macros without knowing the source.\n- **Keep Software Updated**: Regularly update software to protect against vulnerabilities exploited by malware.\n- **Use Antivirus Software**: Install and update antivirus to detect and block malicious files like Trickbot.\n\n**4. Technical Security Implementation Details**\n\n- **Malware Operation**: Trickbot uses malicious macros in Excel files to download and execute itself via PowerShell, highlighting the need for macro security settings.\n- **Distribution via Botnets**: The Necurs botnet distributes Trickbot, emphasizing the importance of monitoring for botnet activities and blocking known malicious IPs.\n\n**5. Data Protection Measures**\n\n- **Credential Theft Prevention**: Use encryption for data transmission and consider multi-factor authentication to secure login processes.\n- **Secure Login Practices**: Encourage users to use unique, complex passwords and regularly update them to prevent unauthorized access.\n\n**6. Best Practices for End Users**\n\n- **Phishing Prevention**: Educate users on phishing tactics, advising them to verify email authenticity before interacting.\n- **Macro Settings**: Disable macros by default in Microsoft Office applications and only enable them when necessary and from trusted sources.\n- **Use of Security Tools**: Utilize tools like Cyren's threat report and URL checker to enhance security and stay informed about emerging threats.\n\n**Conclusion**\n\nBy understanding Trickbot's sophisticated tactics and implementing these strategies, users and organizations can enhance their security posture, effectively mitigating the risks posed by such threats.",
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