Hi folks,
Somewhat predictably, the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Bad Boys are at it again, this time taking advantage of Halloween. For several days now, our LinkScanner users have been detecting large numbers of attempts to trick folks, based on Halloween search phrases, such as “free” and “printable”. As an aside, I’m often asked by folks “I don’t visit porn pages. I’m pretty safe, aren’t I?”, but as you can see, “Free” and “Printable” are hardly porn searches, and you certainly wouldn’t expect them to be dangerous, but here’s how it worked…
We tried searching Yahoo this time, just to show that it’s not just Google’s problem, and this is the first page of results (Please bear in mind that any and all of these sites are probably innocent victims themselves)… [Click image to enlarge]
If you click on the number 10 result, the first screen you see is this….
Followed by…
Followed by …
Most readers of this blog will recognize that this is just a rogue antispy. Given that this is the most common thing we see every day, they must be making money at it.
A really good idea (other than running LinkScanner) is to be inherently suspicious of sites that don’t seem to have a name or brand that is directly associated with the season, or the sporting event, or the news item. It is probably innocent, but hacked. This Halloween, the scariest things might not be the ghosts.
By the way, folks, stay tuned to this blog for some more stories about social networking sites that lead to dangerous pages.
Keep safe folks,
Roger
Meet Roger Thompson
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