Attackers are increasingly exploiting Windows shortcut (LNK) files for malware delivery. Palo Alto Unit 42 telemetry revealed 21,098 malicious LNK samples in 2023, which surged to 68,392 in 2024.
In this article, Unit 42 researchers present an in-depth investigation of LNK malware, based on analysis of 30,000 recent samples. Windows shortcut files use the .lnk file extension and function as a virtual link that allows people to easily access other files without having to navigate through multiple folders on a Windows host. The flexibility of LNK files makes them a powerful tool for attackers, as they can both execute malicious content and masquerade as legitimate files to deceive victims into unintentionally launching malware.
Read more…
Source: Palo Alto Unit 42
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.
Related:
- Department of Homeland Security email accounts exposed in SolarWinds hack
March 30, 2021
Email accounts belonging to US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials may have been compromised during the SolarWinds attack by Russian threat actors. The Associated Press reports that unauthorized intrusions occurred during the SolarWinds supply-chain attack. SolarWinds, the central point of entry, was compromised by threat actors in December who were able to plant a malicious Orion ...
- New survey report released: The state of industrial cybersecurity (Part 1)
March 29, 2021
The cybersecurity has been the word not only in IT world, but also in ICS/OT world. The Stuxnet targeting SCADA systems were uncovered as first ICS malware to damage nuclear plants in 2010. The Wannacry became worldwide famous ransom worm which spread on hundreds of thousands of vulnerable computers and encrypt their data in 2017. ...
- PHP Infiltrated with Backdoor Malware
March 29, 2021
The PHP project on Sunday announced that attackers were able to gain access to its main Git server, uploading two malicious commits, including a backdoor. They were discovered before they went into production. PHP is a widely used open-source scripting language often used for web development. It can be embedded into HTML. The commits were pushed ...
- Harris Federation hit by ransomware attack affecting 50 schools
March 29, 2021
The IT systems and email servers of London-based nonprofit multi-academy trust Harris Federation were taken down by a ransomware attack on Saturday. Harris Federation is an education charity running 50 Harris primary and secondary academies with 37,000 students from London and surrounding areas. The attack hit the school trust’s systems over the weekend on Saturday, March 27, ...
- Hades Ransomware Gang Exhibits Connections to Hafnium
March 29, 2021
The Hades ransomware gang has several unique characteristics that set it apart from the rest of the pack, according to researchers – including potentially having more than extortion on the to-do list. The group appears to use multiple nation-state tools and techniques. The researchers said that its investigations into the group’s cyberattacks at the end of ...
- Newly-Discovered Vulnerabilities Could Allow for Bypass of Spectre Mitigations in Linux
March 29, 2021
Two new vulnerabilities have been patched in the Linux kernel which, if exploited, could bypass existing mitigations for the Spectre vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities were discovered by Piotr Krysiuk, a researcher on Symantec’s Threat Hunter team, who reported them to the Linux kernel security team. If left unpatched, the vulnerabilities mean that existing Spectre protections will ...