Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from the Security Alert blog at PCWorld.com.
iPad search results may contain poisoned links that lead to rogue antivirus software, as fraudsters unleash a favorite malware-pushing tactic.
Antivirus makers Trend Micro and Panda Security, along with the threat-tracking Internet Storm Center, have posts warning about malicious results for search terms such as “apple tablet announcement.” Crooks have for years used such SEO poisoning to snare unwary surfers.
According to Trend, clicking one of the malicious links leads to rogue antivirus software, another online scam that uses fake but professional-looking software to warn of nonexistent infections. Victims are exhorted to purchase a license for the worthless software to clean up the supposedly discovered malware.
While Trend includes a screen shot of a malicious result that it says appeared on the first page of search results, I don’t see that particular link returned when I run a current search. Let’s hope that means Google and the other search engines are already filtering out the scams.