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 ...

Beware these dangerous Windows LNK files. Update, June 9, 2025: This story, originally published on June 8, has been updated with a statement from Microsoft regarding the latest ongoing cyberattacks ...

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 ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Microsoft’s November 2025 Patch Tuesday fixed 63 flaws, including CVE-2025-9491 in Windows LNK ...

Windows' dumb way of handling certain shortcut icons opens door to new rootkit exploit that can nail fully patched systems An antivirus company based in Belarus called VirusBlokAda claims that its ...

Malware researchers have noticed a new tool that helps cybercriminals build malicious .LNK files to deliver payloads for the initial stages of an attack. LNKs are Windows shortcut files that can ...

The Emotet botnet is now using Windows shortcut files (.LNK) containing PowerShell commands to infect victims computers, moving away from Microsoft Office macros that are now disabled by default. The ...

Microsoft implemented the "Fix It" tool in an attempt to temporarily plug the security hole and prevent existing attacks that are already exploiting the vulnerability by disabling some icons from ...

North Korea's APT37 threat group is providing fresh evidence of how adversaries have pivoted to using LNK, or shortcut files, to distribute malicious payloads after Microsoft began blocking macros by ...

Barriers that Microsoft has placed to prevent malicious macros has forced some cybercriminals to use LNK files for malware delivery, but at the cost of easier detection. For years attackers have used ...