Email with the subject "Airmail Tracking number #8154506"?

Filed Under: Malware, Spam

Have you received an email with the subject "Airmail Tracking number #8154506" today? If so, don't open the attachment as it's the latest disguise being used by internet hackers to infect your computer with a Trojan horse.

airmail1.jpg

"Airmail express" messages have been seen in large quantities in our spam traps worldwide in the last hour or so.

The emails typically read as follows:

Unfortunately we were not able to deliver postal package you sent on August the 1st in time because the recipient's address is not correct.
Please print out the invoice copy attached and collect the package at our office

Your support invoice number #3521120850144467

AIRMAIL EXPRESS

Inside the attached archived file, #876712.zip, is a malicious Trojan horse. Sophos has been intercepting the emails as spam with our email gateway filtering products, and has just issued detection for the malware as Troj/FakeAle-GN.

No-one should need reminding, but it's worth reiterating. Always exercise extreme caution and think before opening unsolicited email attachments.

About the author

Graham Cluley has worked in the computer security industry for more than 20 years, developing anti-virus software and doing quite a lot of talking about internet threats. He's won awards for his blogging, but is proudest of the text adventure games he wrote when he was still wearing short trousers. You can learn more about those (the games, not the trousers) at grahamcluley.com. Send Graham an email, subscribe to his updates on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and App.net, and circle him on Google Plus for regular updates.