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This tiny Windows shortcut file is a bigger security threat than you think

Shortcuts (LNK files) in Windows are indicated by curved arrows. We often treat them as background noise and don't consider what they actually do beyond opening apps. In fact, there is a huge gap ...
Computerworld

Critical Windows vuln. in .LNK files = Stuxnet (and IE IV)

Eeek! All versions of Microsoft Windows have a nasty shortcut-file vulnerability, it has emerged. Simply displaying the icon of a crafty .LNK file will cause malware infection. The Stuxnet worm has ...
Homeland Security Today

The Missing LNK — Correlating User Search LNK Files

Forensic investigators use LNK shortcut files to recover metadata about recently accessed files, including files deleted after the time of access. In a recent investigation, FireEye Mandiant ...
CSOonline

Windows shortcuts’ use as a vector for malware may be cut short

A third-party patch management company is cutting short attackers’ use of LNK files to smuggle in malicious commands, while Microsoft prefers to tell the whole story. A longstanding problem with the ...
CSOonline

New Windows zero-day feared abused in widespread espionage for years

A zero-day vulnerability stemming from how Windows User Interface handles its shortcut (.lnk) files has been exploited by at least 11 nation-state actors in widespread threat campaigns. According to ...
Computerworld

Windows shortcut files targeted by ransomware gang Global Group

When Microsoft patched a vulnerability last summer that allowed threat actors to use Windows’ shortcut (.lnk) files in exploits, defenders might have hoped use of this tactic would decline. They were ...
Bleeping Computer

As Microsoft blocks Office macros, hackers find new attack vectors

Hackers who normally distributed malware via phishing attachments with malicious macros gradually changed tactics after Microsoft Office began blocking them by default, switching to new file types ...