The Lumma Stealer malware campaign is exploiting compromised educational institutions to distribute malicious LNK files disguised as PDFs, targeting industries like finance, healthcare, technology, and media. Once executed, these files initiate a stealthy multi-stage infection process, allowing cybercriminals to steal passwords, browser data, and cryptocurrency wallets. With sophisticated evasion techniques, including using Steam profiles for command-and-control operations, this malware-as-a-service (MaaS) threat highlights the urgent need for robust cybersecurity defenses. Stay vigilant against deceptive phishing tactics to protect sensitive information from cyber exploitation.

Turla, a well-known piece of malware, has taken to weaponising LNK-files to infect computers. We have observed a current example of this.

OneNote is a software part of the Office suite, commonly used within most organisations for note-keeping, task management and more. In the last year, OneNote gained more attention from a security perspective, mostly thanks to the research paper published by Emeric Nasi.

While tracking some prevalent commodity malware threat actors, Talos observed the popularization of malicious LNK files as their initial access method to download and execute payloads. A closer look at the LNK files illustrates how their metadata could be used to identify and track new campaigns.

Microsoft's move last year to block macros by default in Office applications is forcing miscreants to find other tools with which to launch cyberattacks, including the software vendor's LNK files – the shortcuts Windows uses to point to other files.