Microsoft Discloses DNS-Based ClickFix Attack — Because Apparently the Internet Wasn’t Broken Enough Already

Oh, bloody hell. Just when you think Redmond’s finest have patched up all the digital holes in their ship, some sneaky little bastards find a new way to piss in the network pool. Microsoft’s latest headache goes by the delightful name of “ClickFix,” a DNS-based malware staging technique that abuses the good ol’ nslookup command — because apparently, hackers decided it was too damn easy to get blocked through normal HTTP channels.

So here’s the steaming pile of crap in summary: some malicious muppets figured out that by disguising payloads through DNS queries (via nslookup, of all bloody things), they can bounce nasty code around under the radar. Basically, instead of malware phoning home like a normal delinquent script kiddie, it quietly chats away through your DNS resolver — because what could possibly go wrong with repurposing the thing that tells your computer where to find websites?

Microsoft, naturally, came out puffing its chest about how it’s on top of things — “We’ve investigated the ClickFix technique, updated Defender, blah blah blah.” Yeah, fantastic, lads. Except the rest of us are still dealing with users who think “updating” means sticking a post-it note on their monitor that says “Don’t click things.” Bravo. Thanks for the memo, Microsoft — just once, I’d like to go a week without having to explain what malware staging is to someone who still double-clicks PDF invoices from “TotallyRealBank.biz”.

The cherry on this digital turd sundae? The attack method seems bloody elegant in its simplicity. DNS lookups — the thing your system does every ten seconds — suddenly turned into a covert smugglers’ route for evil payloads. Because of course it d