 Hackers target Google Hot Trends
29.07.2009
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As ID Theft Protect reported in May, hackers and spammers are increasingly using Google as a means to identify topics that will catch people out when opening malicious messages and clicking on malicious search links. Recently it has been reported that hackers are also using Google’s search system to target people seeking answers to specific questions. One method the hackers use is Google Hot Trends. Google Hot Trends provides a periodically updated list of the top 100 search queries. Using this information, cyber criminals can create links associated with trending search terms on various Web sites that point back to their malicious site. Because Google's PageRank algorithm treats links as votes for higher prominence in search results lists, malicious sites can be promoted to the top of search results pages by gaming Google's system. This tends to generate a lot of traffic due to the popularity of the search terms. Google has of course been dealing with link spamming and PageRank manipulation (called Spamdexing) for years now. The latest use of Google Hot Trends is a major shift in focus and has proved rather successful for the scammers. ID Theft Protect would like to point out that link spamming isn’t just associated with Google. It actually affects every search engine. Google is one of the better search engines when it comes to identifying and removing these malicious links. Google says that it uses manual and automated processes to deal with such issues and that it continues to look for new ways to prevent the problem. ID Theft Protect suggest you be extra careful when clicking on links in Google. Why not use search engine protection software? IDTP suggest using either TrendProtect or McAfee SiteAdvisor Source: ID Theft Protect Search Related News: hackers, antivirus, malware, spammers, google |
