It’s catnip for hackers.
Computer users Googling whether Bengal cats are legal to own after finding themselves victims of a bizarre cyber attack.
Cybersecurity company SOPHOS issued an urgent warning on its website, urging people to not type six words into their engines like google.
Those that Google “Are Bengal Cats legal in Australia?” have reportedly had their personal information stolen after clicking on fraudulent links that appear near the highest of the page.
“Victims are sometimes enticed into clicking on malicious adware or links disguised as legitimate marketing, or on this case a legitimate Google search,” SOPHOS explained.
At present, the harmful links only appear within the search results when the word “Australia” is included, meaning those Down Under are at the biggest risk of an attack.
Once users click on a search result — which looks legitimate — they’ve personal information, similar to bank details, stolen via a program often called Gootloader.
This system may lock users out of their very own computers, per SOPHOS.
While the search term for Bengal cats appears relatively area of interest, the corporate claims that makes the hacking threat much more alarming since you don’t need to be looking for anything nefarious with a view to have your personal details stolen.
SOPHOS says cyber criminals are increasingly infiltrating innocuous Google searches through the use of a tactic often called “website positioning poisoning.”
The practice is described by the Every day Mail as an “insidious technique during which criminals manipulate search engine results to push web sites they control to the highest of the page”
SOPHOS urges those that imagine they could have been a victim of website positioning poisioning to change their passwords as soon as possible.
