Japan earthquake search results lead to malware

Tragedies like the massive earthquake which recently hit Japan are bad enough, and they're compounded online by nefarious types who want to profit from the inevitable increase in search engine queries.

It's a common way to trick users into installing malicious programs like fake antivirus or fake system maintenance tools. By getting in quickly on new search terms as the become popular, malware pushers can get their "poisoned" websites into the top positions on sites like Google and Bing. That puts the searching masses at great risk, even if it's only a short amount of time before such sites are filtered.

The best protection is to be aware and click only on results from trusted sources for news in cases like this. If you've never heard of a site pushing Japan earthquake news in your search results, it's a good idea to steer clear.

Japan earthquake search results lead to malware originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/11/japan-earthquake-search-results-lead-to-malware/

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