Warning As Criminals Use Black Hat Seo Techniques To Target Surfers
An internet security firm is warning internet users to stay alert, after research found cybercriminals targeted hundreds of search engine terms in one week.
According to data published by internet security firm SonicWALL, almost 300 top search terms were targeted over the past seven days. There were in excess of 6,600 malicious URLs linked to these search engine terms, pulling in unsuspecting users.
SonicWALL said criminals will seek out high ranking search terms, usually relating to major news events such as the recent earthquake in Haiti. They will then use search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques to boost their malicious websites up Googles rankings in order to attract more traffic to the site.
Deepen Desai, the lead malware researcher at SonicWALL, said: Cybercriminals use whatever is at their disposal to spread malware. In this instance they are launching attacks against Googles top search terms that identify the most popular stories of the day.
These criminals are now going after these top search terms using their knowledge to insert malware infected websites almost immediately after people show interest in a particular news site.
Attempts to remove malicious websites from the search results are ongoing, but it can often be a number of hours before sites are discovered and taken down.
SonicWall says there are certain steps people can take to help prevent being caught by criminals, such as: making sure anti-virus software is up-to-date, not executing files sent by email attachment and most importantly remaining aware and looking at URLs before clicking on them.
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Source: www.lakestarmedia.com