Accessing pornographic sites, gambling pages, or downloading MP3 music can lead to spyware infections on computers. However, new research shows that systems are also at risk even when users search for information using seemingly harmless keywords.
Two American researchers, Hannah Rosenbaum and Ben Edelman, tested 1,394 of the most popular keywords on search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Ask. They found that all leading search programs today display links to unsafe sites. In fact, unreliable websites accounted for up to 72% of the results when users searched for terms like “free screensavers,” “free ringtones,” “digital music,” “popular software,” and “singers.”
The Most Dangerous Keywords
1. Free screensavers
2. Bearshare
3. Screensavers
4. WinMX
5. LimeWire
6. Download Yahoo Messenger
7. LimeWire
8. Free ringtones
The search results were analyzed using the security tool Site Advisor. This tool rates a site as low risk if it only changes browser settings and directs users to advertising pages. A site is classified as serious when it attacks the system with spyware.
Approximately 4-6% of the links were rated as serious threats. This is a significant concern as Americans conduct nearly 6 billion searches each month, translating to an average of 285 million clicks on unsafe connections within just 30 days. “Just one visit to a dangerous site can have long-lasting consequences, and it can also spread to the systems of many others,” Edelman warned.
The security risk increases by two to four times when users click on sponsored links (companies pay search services to have their websites appear at the top of certain search results).
“Wherever Internet users go, attackers will follow them. Search services play a particularly important role in people’s web browsing habits, inadvertently becoming the leading vehicle for virus dissemination,” Ben Edelman noted. “Search engines need to establish certain guidelines to protect users’ computers.”
According to American security firm McAfee, the survey conducted by Hannah Rosenbaum and Ben Edelman is the first detailed study on the safety of search engines.
T.N.
