Analysis by: Marcus Ma. Antonio Capistrano

ALIASES:

Virus.MSExcel.Pink (Kaspersky), X97M/Pink (McAfee), X97M.Pink.A.Gen (Symantec), X97M/Pinkpick.A (Avira)

 PLATFORM:

Windows

 OVERALL RISK RATING:
 DAMAGE POTENTIAL:
 DISTRIBUTION POTENTIAL:
 REPORTED INFECTION:
 INFORMATION EXPOSURE:

  • Threat Type: Trojan

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted:

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

This Trojan arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size: 400,896 bytes
File Type: XLS
Initial Samples Received Date: 20 May 2014

Arrival Details

This Trojan arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

Autostart Technique

This Trojan drops the following files:

  • %Application Data%\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART\B00k1.xls (Files under this directory is automatically opened with Microsoft Excel each time Microsoft Excel is started)

(Note: %Application Data% is the Application Data folder, where it usually is C:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Application Data on Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP (32- and 64-bit); C:\Users\{user name}\AppData\Roaming on Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit), Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit), Windows 8 (32- and 64-bit), Windows 8.1 (32- and 64-bit), Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2012.)