Microsoft took its macros and went home, so miscreants turned to Windows LNK files

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. "When Microsoft announced the changes to macro behavior in Office at the end …

[Snake]

4 hooves

"Microsoft's move last year to block macros by default in Office applications..."

'We've FINALLY fixed that barn door since every single horse left us', says Microsoft.

Really. Took you to only *2022* to ban macros by default??

Maybe those claims of coding 'incompetence' has a ring of truth after all...

[Dan 55]

And this is why the start menu and desktop shortcuts got deleted by Defender

Clever Microsoft.

[J. Cook]

Re: And this is why the start menu and desktop shortcuts got deleted by Defender

.. including their own; that was a pain in the buttocks to fix.

[FlamingDeath]

Re: And this is why the start menu and desktop shortcuts got deleted by Defender

And still, businesses spend money with these clowns.

It's almost as if the business was founded by a crook....Oh wait!

[Anonymous Coward]

So miscreants simply moved to another hole..

.. in the collection of Swiss American cheeses that are Microsoft's product line.

Plus ça change and all that.

[xtam667]

The shift to LNK does not strike me as a good indication of how clever these attackers are. Abusing links to executables is nothing new. In fact, it is an older attack vector than Windows.