Cyber criminals are making malicious use of search engine optimisation to boost the profile of their malware and phising sites according to digital security researchers.
The Click technology blog reports that researchers from Alwil Software, maker of Avast anti-virus, claim to have uncovered a network of hundreds of fake links on hijacked web sites for SEO on malicious websites. An emailed alert from the company warns that “by positioning themselves among the top search results, these organised gangs are successfully pushing products such as fake anti-virus software to consumers and stealing sensitive data.”
The researchers say that a network of at least 70 hijacked sites are providing attackers with more than 500 links each. Using one of the cornerstones of professional SEO services hijackers have made these links visible only to search engine bots, using them to boost the profile of other sites that they want boosted in search rankings.
Nearly 220 keywords were used by the attackers effort for SEO on Google, taking advantage of trending topics online.
Uindrich Kubec, Avast’s anti-virus research director, said in the emailed alert that “within hours of the former President’s heart operation”, attackers had targeted keywords on Bill Clinton, demonstrating “an extremely sophisticated understanding of search engine optimisation”.
However, these SEO methods were also integral in alerting the researchers to the tactic. Kubec “stumbled upon” the network after searching for ‘george clooney academy awards’ and being alerted by his anti-virus software that one of the pages in the results was infected. “From there he really started researching this whole network and flushing them out” Alwil CEO Vince Steckler told Click.
Although it is unknown how the attackers circumvented Google’s link spamming protection, which was put in place to prevent ‘black hat SEO’ from using the same technique, it demonstrates the increasingly commonplace nature of SEO in the online landscape – and the need for all users to secure anti-virus protection for their machines.
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