Trojan.WinLNK.StartPage

Trojans are malicious programs that perform actions which are not authorized by the user: they delete, block, modify or copy data, and they disrupt the performance of computers or computer networks. Unlike viruses and worms, the threats that fall into this category are unable to make copies of themselves or self-replicate. Trojans are classified according to the type of action they perform on an infected computer.

A malicious program designed to electronically spy on the user’s activities (intercept keyboard input, take screenshots, capture a list of active applications, etc.). The collected information is sent to the cybercriminal by various means, including email, FTP, and HTTP (by sending data in a request).

A file with the LNK extension is a Windows shortcut to a file, program, or folder.

Malicious LNK files of this family imitate shortcuts for popular browsers. When clicked, they open a page (indicated inside the malicious file) in a browser. Often these pages have names confusingly similar to those of search engines, and redirect users to questionable sites.

Geographical distribution of attacks by the Trojan.WinLNK.StartPage family

Geographical distribution of attacks during the period from 16 January 2016 to 16 January 2017

Top 10 countries with most attacked users (% of total attacks)

* Percentage among all unique Kaspersky Lab users worldwide attacked by this malware