Pushdo - Analysis of a Modern Malware Distribution System

Recently, Sophos published a blog entry detailing the trouble they are having with the Pushdo trojan, a fairly new and prolific threat being circulated in fake "E-card" emails. From their description, it is clear that the author(s) of Pushdo are making a concerted effort to spread their malware far and wide. But what exactly is Pushdo, and how does it work? We decided to take a closer look at this malware family.

Pushdo is usually classified as a "downloader" trojan - meaning its true purpose is to download and install additional malicious software. There are dozens of downloader trojan families out there, but Pushdo is actually more sophisticated than most, but that sophistication lies in the Pushdo control server rather than the trojan.

http://www.secureworks.com/research/threats/pushdo/?threat=pushdo

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Several years ago, you would just see a simple script that ID'd the browser via User-Agent strings, but times have changed. This is one advanced downloader trojan.

Automatic geo-location malware delivery and VM detection via HD Serial Numbers. Crazy stuff.