Pushdo Botnet

Pushdo, also known as the Cutwail or Pandex botnet, is an advanced downloader that first infects a targeted system and then downloads the Cutwail spam module (also owned by the same group).

Threat ID:: CC-1759
Category:: Botnet
Threat Severity:: Medium
Threat Vector:: Email spam
Published:: 8 November 2017 12:00 AM

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Summary

Pushdo, also known as the Cutwail or Pandex botnet, is an advanced downloader that first infects a targeted system and then downloads the Cutwail spam module (also owned by the same group).

Affected platforms

The following platforms are known to be affected:

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows – all versions

Threat details

After they have sent out a number of spam emails from the infected computer, it reports the exact statistics on the number of emails that were delivered back to the spammer, as well as which and how many errors were reported. This malware also functions as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) botnet that can be used to launch attacks on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encrypted websites over port 443.

Remediation steps

Type	Step
	A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails. All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date. All day to day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts. Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged. Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity. User accounts accessed from infected machines should be reset on a clean computer

Type

Step

A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails.
All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date.
All day to day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts.
Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged.
Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity.
User accounts accessed from infected machines should be reset on a clean computer

Last edited: 17 February 2020 11:37 am