Downloader: What are the Internet's most dangerous search words? Bearshare and screensaver.

Monday, March 29, 2010

What are the Internet's most dangerous search words? Bearshare and screensaver.

The people who push malware love to trap victims via search. Security companies refer to what they do as "SEO poisoning." They identify popular search terms, figure out which ones are likely to bring them suitable targets, and then optimize pages so engines like Google and Bing display their results on the first page -- mixed in amongst the non-malicious pages you actually wanted to find.

This practice is a big reason fake antivirus programs have become such a problem. Someone searching for "XP antivirus," for example, is probably looking for a program like Avast or AVG -- but instead, they could very well end up on a malicious site peddling the XP Antivirus malware (or one of a thousand variants).

So what search words are most likely to get you into trouble? Bearshare and screensaver.

I'll admit I'm kind of shocked. Typically it's a search for a hot celebrity or someone's nude photos or private video which causes the most problems, but according to McAffee Bearshare is the worst right now with 46% of results returned pointing to malicious sites. Screensavers is close behind at 42%.

Personally, I wouldn't touch Bearshare (even the real program) with a 100-foot pole and the same goes for free screensaver websites. The customers whose computers I service, however, continue to learn hard lessons in responsible use.

I don't always agree with McAffee, but in this case they're bang-on: avoid these things like the plague, and tell your family and friends to do the same.

[via AfterDawn]