Friday 2 October 2009

Google Wave can be `dangerous'

Websense Security Labs has detected that Google searches on terms related to Google Wave return results that lead to a rogue antivirus.


Google Wave is the much talked-about, latest API whuch has just hit the collaboration scene. There's a lot of hype about the launch of Google Wave, not only because of the 'new' things it offers but also because Google invited only 100,000 lucky users to test the service. With that said, it's no surprise that users are enticed to this new application.

According to InformationWeek, cyber criminals have rolled out a blackhat SEO poisoning campaign to turn interest in Wave into a computer infection. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aims to optimize Web sites to appear prominently in search results when relevant keywords are searched.

Writes Thomas Claburn, "Blackhat SEO tries to do the same thing while flouting search engine guidelines about acceptable practices, such as prohibitions on the deceptive use of text or page elements. Blackhat SEO may also try a parasitic approach, by embedding malicious code in someone else's well-ranked Web page and redirecting the visitor without notice or permission."

According to him, search terms such as "google wave demo video" and "google wave invitation" have recently produced lists of search results which include malicious Web sites that have gamed Google's PageRank system to appear prominently.
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