Spam News

Ford Motor Company used in black hat SEO attacks

Monday, April 20, 2009

A major network security research firm last week detected a black hat search engine optimization (SEO) attack using searches for automaker Ford-related terms to distribute malware on the internet.

Researchers discovered 1.2 million results in searches related to Ford Motor Company which direct users to malicious pages that prompt visitors to download a fake anti virus program.

The malware is distributed when users searching for information about Ford click on one of the malicious search results and are taken to a site in which it appears they are about to see a video, the researchers reported.

If users try to watch the video, they will be prompted to download another program, which is really a fake anti virus product. The rogue programs are designed to make users believe that their computers have been infected by malware by simulating a scan of the victim's computer system and detecting fake malware.

The security company reported that variants of fake anti virus programs - called rogueware or scareware - has increased 100 times since the first quarter of 2008.

During the first quarter of this year the security company found 111,086 new strains of fake anti virus programs, 20 percent more than in the whole of 2008.