And the Academy Award for the most dangerous search term goes to…

The team at Norton have been busy digging through the gossip since Sunday’s glamorous Oscar ceremony. They weren’t just looking for juicy rumours though; they’ve been looking for malware around the Academy Awards.

Cybercriminals often take advantage of public interest in both individual celebrities and world entertainment events, so it is no surprise that when the two combine, crooks get busy infecting websites. Norton found that around 50% of Oscar related internet search results lead to “poisoned” sites.

 Some of the most dangerous search terms (and the percentage of infected results) include:

  • “Oscar 2010 Winners” – 60% infected
  • “Music By Prudence” – 58% infected
  • “Kathryn Bigelow height” – 48% infected
  • “Sandra bullock Meryl Streep kiss” – 43% infected

Criminals predict public curiosity and infect pages that contain key words with malware. When a victim clicks through on links from search engines they inadvertently end up with their computer infected with a virus or inundated with pop-ups for fake, and in some cases dangerous, “anti-virus software.”
 
When searching for anything online, Oscar-related or not, it is important to be on guard. Make sure you have legitimate antivirus software that includes all the latest updates, and if you don’t, make sure you buy software from a reputable source.
 
Abigail Lovell

Photo by Flickr user Zadi Diaz, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

March 10, 2010 | Filed Under Phishing, Virus, cyber-crime, security 

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