By Davey Winder
Publication Date: 2025-12-04 12:46:00
Microsoft has stealthily switched on critical Widnows security protection.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
You don’t have to wait until next week for the monthly Patch Tuesday rollout for this Windows surprise: Microsoft has silently updated Windows security protections for millions of users against a critical hacking threat. And it’s only taken, erm, eight years.
Microsoft Silently Fixes Years-Old Security Issue For Millions Of Windows Users
On March 10, I published an article warning about the 10-second phantom goblin infostealer attack. Go read it for the full gory details, but the gist of the thing is that it exploited the Windows .LNK shortcut while being disguised as a legitimate PDF document. On June 9, I published an article warning of another .LNK Windows attack, and another on August 4, and the latest was on November 1, concerning the now officially designated CVE-2025-9491 Windows…