Beware of the Redpill mail virus

May this warning come to everyone before it's too late. There is a spyware out there called the Redpill that comes to users in the form of an unassuming email with an attachment that could potentially steal everything from your  bank account details to your personal emails.

The emails that have been observed by Symantec have been specifically targeted at Indian mail users.

"We have observed spam emails being sent to random users across India containing a malicious attachment, which is used to steal confidential information. Opening the attached file will display an error message in order to hide the malicious purpose of the file and trick the user into thinking that the file is corrupted," says Abhijit Limaye, director, development, security response, Symantec.

Once the user gets the error message, many assume that nothing of value has occurred and go about their daily transactions via email which is where the problem begins because the malware has already been executed.

"The user might think that nothing has happened, but unfortunately the malware has been executed and in the background the malware installs itself on the compromised computer by creating the following files and then subsequently, the threat begins to record keystrokes and take screenshots," he adds.

So what does this mean to those who have been affected? Well, their bank account might be in jeopardy.

"It is clear from this that the people behind this scheme are not looking for information on hundreds of cheating spouses, but are instead after valuable information like credentials for various social networking accounts, bank account details, emails written on the compromised computers and screenshots of documents," he offers.

So far according to Symantec, over 12,000 email accounts may have been compromised in March 2013 alone.

So what can you do to protect yourself against the attack? It's simple: just don't open any unknown emails or attachments.

Users need to  make sure that the best security practices are followed and ensure that the most up-to-date software patches are in place and use the latest technologies and virus definitions for protection against threats," he adds.

@dna