[LINK] Google instant released

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

  On 9/09/2010 10:49 PM, Kim Holburn wrote:
> http://www.google.com/instant
>

Google Instant a potential bonanza for search scams
You type it in here, and it comes out there
By John Leyden
Posted in Malware,
The Register
9th September 2010 14:30 GMT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/09/google_instant_black_hat_seo/

Security watchers are concerned that scareware scammers may quickly 
adapt to the introduction of real-time search technology from Google to 
develop even more potent search engine poisoning attacks.

Google Instant speeds up search results by working as users type into 
the Google search box. The technology predicts what users are trying to 
type and rapidly makes suggestions on which search term is most 
relevant, all in real time.

Blackhat SEO threats typically seek to make sure links to malicious 
sites are returned close to the top of searches for topical terms. The 
problem has bedevilled search engines for years and more recently has 
become the main tactic in promoting rogue anti-virus (AKA scareware) 
scam portals.

Sean-Paul Correll, a security researcher at Panda Security, warns that 
this contamination of search results might become even worse with the 
advent of 'real-time' search.

"This new technology can potentially improve existing Blackhat SEO 
campaigns," Correll warns. "We know for a fact that most Blackhat SEO 
campaigns automatically query Google’s trending topic results and now it 
seems that Google Instant will be suggesting those trending phrases 
(verbatim), potentially putting millions of victims directly in cyber 
criminals' cross hairs."

Not to worry though - we expect Google is even now coming up with a 
clever way to make search engine manipulation a thing of the past.

Or perhaps not.

Typing in "anti-virus" in Google, with the new real-time search 
technology enabled, returned Antivir Solution Pro, a well-known 
scareware pathogen, in a prominent position among the suggested search 
terms, as a blog post by Correll illustrates 
<http://pandalabs.pandasecurity.com/malicious-search-suggestions-with-google-instant>.

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
email:	 brd at iimetro.com.au
website: www.drbrd.com