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DHL Tracking Number E-mail Scam

In ever evolving schemes to steal financial information, hackers have created an e-mail scam attacking computers by posing as one the world’s most trusted shipping companies, DHL. The e-mail, titled “DHL Tracking Number EMail Notice,” looks like a genuine message. The message contains a virus-infected file, “DHL_help.exe” with the ability to download additional malware (malicious software). Opening the file as instructed immediately sends a banking-specific Trojan virus to the computer, disabling many anti-virus software programs and stealing sensitive information (user names and passwords, credit card numbers, online banking details, etc.). The virus will also take screen snapshots, gaining information for future use – and even allowing the hacker remote access to a computer system!

This virus is extremely dangerous if opened on a network computer or personal computer. The virus has the ability to compromise an entire system before it is detected.

Currently, several options are available to protect computers. E-mail users are asked to NEVER open any unexpected .exe or .zip file, including files from businesses the user may or may not be familiar with. Currently, the latest anti-virus signatures and spam content filters are able to detect this e-mail threat. Installing any upgrades on firewall programs and anti-virus software is encouraged.