Title says it all. Image Search of Google is now being used by "bad guys" to distribute spywares, scarewares, and other malicious software today. The crime is simple: attackers injected malicious codes with their fake and automated websites based on the hottest topics in the internet.
Ever wondered how Osama Bin Laden's websites were created shortly after his death?
What must be the disturbing part about this latest attack is that these artificial websites store fresh contents, so Google bots basically love to crawl them and present them to you FIRST. The malicious people behind these attack used most advanced scripts to initiate their attack by fully automating the creation of these websites which can cleverly monitor trending queries in the internet. In short, these websites have good SEO position as they basically collect the freshest and the latest information about the most-talked topics in the internet.
These websites are potentially unsafe because of the malicious scripts embedded on it. By the time you click on any of the resulting links or thumbnails, you'll be taken to another page that offers fake antivirus system software. And worst, some of these websites perform false virus scan and immediately prompts you to purchase and install antispyware system to disinfect (or restore) your files.
While Google is still working the best possible they can to remove this Google Image attack, here's what you can do in order to protect yourself from such risky game:
1. Be Careful with "attractive" offers, rewards and freebies
If you click on a resulting thumbnail and you're redirected to a web page with some "attractive" offers and freebies, watch out. Most of these websites host malicious scripts which can steal your information in the background even before you click on some links. If the website is loaded with annoying popups, then, leave!
2. Watch out for "scarewares"
The guys behind this attack on Google make money by offering scarewares. Scarewares are fake antispyware programs that masquerade as "genuine" one. You probably have visited to a website alerting you that your PC got infected and you need to install "XYZ" program in order to avoid complete wipe out with your disk. If you're prompted with such message, go away.
3. Check the credibility of the website
When you click on a resulting image and you're taken to another suspicious page, check the credibility of that site online. Follow this guide on
how to check if a website is safe to browse.
4. Make sure you have an updated anti-spyware installed
A good anti-spyware or AV system software should automatically blocks malicious sites from executing throughout your system. So, make sure both your OS and antivirus system are updated.
5. Curb your clicking habit
No spywares get into your system if you're just little too careful with what you click on the web. Your image search query "Osama bin Laden" may return a lists of cloaking websites that present nothing but irrelevant info. If you've come into this type of website, then, exit!
Browsing the net is not truly safer these days. Even the internet giant Google's Image Search service was hit by such abuse. But as a web user, you can always outsmart those cyber criminals trying to abuse Google Image by following those suggestions I've mentioned above.
