New Love Letter Email Could Load Malware On Your PC  - Olmec Skip to main content

New Love Letter Email Could Load Malware On Your PC 

By January 26, 2019June 2nd, 2022Cybersecurity

Here’s some disturbing news:  Hackers around the world are actively trying to exploit Valentine’s Day. This is according to new research from the Emerging Treats team at the security firm ProofPoint.  The team has detected a massive new mal-spam campaign they’ve dubbed “The Love Letter Campaign.”

Relying on basic social techniques, this campaign uses subject lines like:

  • I love you
  • My letter just for you
  • Wrote this letter for you
  • Just for you!
  • This is my love letter to you
  • My love letter for you
  • Wrote a fantasy about us
  • Fell in love with you
  • Always thinking about you!
  • Other similar subjects.

Let’s face it, everybody likes getting love letters and the hackers know this.  That’s exactly why a disturbing percentage of people receiving “love letters” like this wind up clicking on the attachment (usually a PDF) to download and open it.

Unfortunately, when they do, it fires a malicious JavaScript file that downloads something called “krablin.exe” and executes it.  The results aren’t pretty.  The victim is infected with a nasty cocktail of malware that includes a cryptojacking miner called Monero XMRig Miner, a copy of the Phorpiex spambot, and GrandCrab Ransomware, which will move immediately to lock all your files and demand payment in Bitcoin.

It’s a thorny issue.  Most people only expect to see one type of malware installed per attack. So, odds are that once the victim pays the ransom and gets his or her files back, all the focus will be on getting rid of all traces of that malware. This leaves the other two to run silently in the background, profiting the hackers further.

Although the “love letter” campaign doesn’t sound all that threatening, this is dark and serious business.  Be on your guard against it and be sure your employees are aware.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.