Web Security News

Report identifies search terms riskiest for malware

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Cybercriminals are increasingly using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to target internet users who search for popular keywords, according to a new report that identifies the riskiest searches by category and country.

The report, by IT security company McAfee, concludes that the riskiest searches - those with the highest probability of leading to sites infected with viruses and other types of malware - include those for popular song lyrics, free music downloads and video game cheats.

People who search for free music downloads will get search results pages with an average of 20 percent risky websites. However, the overall risk of turning up malicious websites in searches is just 1.7 percent, McAfee said.

The report also found that more popular searches have a higher risk - suggesting that cybercriminals are paying attention to what terms will lead to more potential victims. For example, searches for Zuma Rossdale, the infant son of celebrity singers Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani, can be as risky as 25 percent, suggesting that hackers pay significant attention to news events.

"If hackers are now motivated largely by profit, the biggest profits can be wrung from the largest pools of potential victims," the report concluded. "And on the web, popular trends and visitor traffic are highly correlated."
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