Name of Malware: Pitou

Type of Malware: Trojan, spam bot

Affected Operating Systems: Windows

Affected Device Types: PCs, laptops

Impact: medium

What is Pitou?

Pitou is a trojan for Windows devices.

Its functions are to steal passwords and collect various pieces of information about the mobile phone, such as its location and contacts.

Pitou is a piece of malware that sends spam messages from your system. Spam that comes from a known sender address which the recipient may even have stored in their contacts has a higher chance of being deemed harmless. This increases the chance that malicious code in attached files will be opened.

How did I get infected with Pitou?

Systems can be infected with Pitou when a user opens a malicious e-mail attachment. The malware is hidden in a file that appears harmless. The attachments are often named using words such as invoice or reminder to deceive the user into unsafe actions.

Links to websites that have been hacked by criminals may also be used instead of attachments. The attackers hide malicious scripts on these websites. The scripts are used to download and install the malware without the user's consent.

What do I have to do now?

To eliminate Pitou and detect any other infections that may be present, we recommend scanning the system with an anti-virus program and removing any viruses that are detected.
Once the clean-up is complete, it is very important that you use new, secure passwords for all potentially compromised accounts.

Further information on removing this malware can be found under Removing infections from PCs, laptops etc.

Technical specifications

Further information on this malware can be found on the website of our project partner Fraunhofer FKIE.