TSPY_ICEIX.A

This spyware is designed to steal banking information and is known in media reports as the “Ice IX bot”. It is based on Zeus 2.x source code, thus, its behavior is similar to Zeus incorporated with minor changes in its routines. It is capable of monitoring the user's online banking transactions via means of the hooked APIs. It can also obtain personal certificates through the modified PFXImportCertStore API.

To get a one-glance comprehensive view of the behavior of this Spyware, refer to the Threat Diagram shown below.

It intercepts the APIs to perform its malicious routines.

It connects to specific URLs to download its configuration file.

This spyware arrives as an attachment to email messages spammed by other malware/grayware or malicious users. It may be downloaded by other malware/grayware/spyware from remote sites. It may be unknowingly downloaded by a user while visiting malicious websites.

It is injected into all running processes to remain memory resident.

File Size: 99,840 bytes

File Type: EXE

Memory Resident: Yes

Initial Samples Received Date: 24 Aug 2011

Arrival Details

This spyware arrives as an attachment to email messages spammed by other malware/grayware or malicious users.

It may be downloaded by other malware/grayware/spyware from remote sites.

It may be unknowingly downloaded by a user while visiting malicious websites.

Installation

This spyware drops the following files:

%Application Data%\{random2}\{random}.{random}

(Note: %Application Data% is the current user's Application Data folder, which is usually C:\Windows\Profiles\{user name}\Application Data on Windows 98 and ME, C:\WINNT\Profiles\{user name}\Application Data on Windows NT, and C:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Local Settings\Application Data on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003.)

It drops the following copies of itself into the affected system:

%Application Data%\{random1}\{random}.exe

(Note: %Application Data% is the current user's Application Data folder, which is usually C:\Windows\Profiles\{user name}\Application Data on Windows 98 and ME, C:\WINNT\Profiles\{user name}\Application Data on Windows NT, and C:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Local Settings\Application Data on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003.)

It creates the following folders:

%Application Data%\{random1}
%Application Data%\{random2}

(Note: %Application Data% is the current user's Application Data folder, which is usually C:\Windows\Profiles\{user name}\Application Data on Windows 98 and ME, C:\WINNT\Profiles\{user name}\Application Data on Windows NT, and C:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Local Settings\Application Data on Windows 2000, XP, and Server 2003.)

It is injected into all running processes to remain memory resident.

It adds the following mutexes to ensure that only one of its copies runs at any one time:

Global\{GUID}
Local\{GUID}

Autostart Technique

This spyware adds the following registry entries to enable its automatic execution at every system startup:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
{35D54A61-7071-B7F6-1D93-58D85F80CF3F} = "%Application Data%\{random1}\{random}.exe"

Other System Modifications

This spyware adds the following registry entries as part of its installation routine:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
{random}
{random1} = "{hex values}"

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
{random}
{random2} = "{hex values}"

It modifies the following registry entries:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\
Zones\0
1609 = "0"