“Lyrics” and “Screensavers” - Most Dangerous Terms to Search For

Security firm McAfee has just released a report, "The Web's Most Dangerous Search Terms", according to which, nearly 6 out of 10 search hits related to the keyword "screensavers" direct to malicious websites. Half of searches related to "lyrics," similarly generate the same results.

McAfee, which searched for 2,658 distinct and widely-used phrases/keywords across 413,368 distinct URLs, concludes that the terms such as "free" and "lyrics" are the most risky keywords, reflecting 21.3% chances of exposing surfers to fraudulent sites/malware.

The report further indicates that cyber criminals prefer to target youngsters because they are believed to have low awareness about Web threats, exercise insufficient caution while navigating, and are largely inclined to search for free items.

Unfortunately, online crooks appear to be increasingly targeting surfers searching for home-based work. McAfee says that these searches could mean a four-time more risk compared to the mean risk associated with the popular search terms.

The ongoing economic recession has become another reason to search for ways to earn some extra money and also to save some. Amazingly, searches for 'Viagra,' a term which commonly appears in spam mails, resulted in the least number of dangerous sites, according to McAfee.

Other phrases that are also dangerous include "Rihanna," "Jonas Brothers," "Webkinz," "free games," "iPhone" and "Powerball."

Security companies have observed how hackers tend to poison results from search engines as numerous instances have been recorded in 2009. The latest one -the 'Gumblar' assaults used malware to infect victims.

During March 2009, security company Symantec further observed that attackers were employing search hits on Yahoo after getting them sponsored to dupe users into going to a site that sold bogus antivirus.

According to McAfee, cyber criminals instead of targeting selected markets are looking to cast their net as wide as possible. Senior Vice-President Jeff Green of McAfee Product Development and Avert Labs said, whenever some topic becomes popular, hackers set up related websites and litter them with malware/adware, as reported by eWeek on May 27, 2009.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 6/1/2009