Are you familiar with the term ‘Poisoning the Search Engine’? Well, this is the technique that hackers and attackers are using these days to fool you to redirect to malicious sites. However, you can get rid of those through some tech support. Learn more about this.
Attackers are using the Black Hat Search Engine Optimization technique to get higher search rankings in an unethical manner and then redirect users to malicious sites. These malicious sites distribute ‘fake antivirus’ software to the utter discomfort of the user. Its characteristics are as follows:
Breaks search engine rules and regulations.
Creates a poor user experience directly.
Unethically presents content in a visual or non-visual way.
The Method
How does it exactly happen? Let us consider a particular malicious web-content writer who wants users to hit the malicious site unknowingly and then download some virus software. He will use PHP based tools to make a website in such a way that, if any user search on the web with a specific keyword, then it will take the user to the wrong and unscrupulous site. This is done by a method, which we know as ‘poisoning the browser’. The search engine uses a computer algorithm, popularly known as the ‘spider’, which ‘sniffs’ for sites related to the searched keyword. Now in some unscrupulous way, he fools the search engine to get higher rankings of the malicious website. As a result, he easily redirects the customer to the fraudulent site. One only need to embed a powerful java-script into a tempting flash based content and the moment you click on it, your computer is infected with a virus!! For example, let us say that ‘abc.com’ is a popular website and a malicious website is created using sub-domains with the same key word like ‘yyy.abc.com’. A search on the basis of the keyword ‘abc’ might lead a user to the fake website and then a virus infection to the computer is only a doorstep away. So it is the mix of topical keywords and phrases together with links of the site to other SEO pages that fools the search engine.
Being Safe
The question is how to remain secure from this new threat? A few things can be considered.
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URL Filtering (Can be done by the user or security advisor of the user)
Content Inspection (Can be done by both the user and the System Analysts of the Search Engine).
Thwarting the use of active content related to java-script like Mal/FakeAvJsA by Antivirus software at the user’s end by. You can do it by configuring the security options of Internet Explorer or Mozilla or whatever the browser you are using.
Web Hosting itself should have better security features for the sake of the common users.
Know the features of your antivirus to have a better knowledge on security breaches. Too much of filtering will not let you do the normal day to day work and vice versa. There is always a trade off between security and speed of performance. The antivirus software will not let any registry corrections to be made without your permission. The feature of heuristic analysis is always a good option while choosing your antivirus software.
For any unusual behavior by your computer, always contact a help desk specialist. The problem might not be related to a virus at all. It could be a simple corruption in the operating system. So act smart to fix your problem.
