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Don't click on these
http://thegardenforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=80
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Author:  DrDark [ Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:38 am ]
Post subject:  Don't click on these

Lately searching for recent PJ stuff has taken a dangerous turn. There are a fair number of poisoned links in google search results for "PJ Harvey, in the last 24 hours". This isn't a one-time thing either. I've been noticing them for at least the last few weeks.

They take the form of gibberish with a bizzare looking url. Here's one:

Pj Harvey You Said Something
7 hours ago - "He then led a group of US troops to pj harvey a nearby suburb where one of Saddam's loyal security chiefs was waiting. The US officers were handed a ...
http://marquisetwentyman.sxqbeyg.cc//pj ... thing.html

I deliberately crippled the url above by making it pj_harrrvey instead of pj_harvey. Clicking this will very likely bring up a battle between a trojan downloading virus and your antivirus software. Note that .cc is china I think. Make sure you keep your browser updated as well as your AV software and Operating system updated. Whatever this is, it's bypassing Firefox's defenses also.

These are called "drive by" trojans. Be careful out there.

Author:  yarnforhair [ Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Don't click on these

thanks doc

Author:  Me and my Marshall [ Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Don't click on these

Thank you Dr.

Author:  jesuspolly [ Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Don't click on these

Ok Thanks for the information¡¡¡ :???:

Author:  DrDark [ Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Don't click on these

It turns out clicking on any links you find when searching for any celebrity is risky. McAffe keeps a "top 15" list.
http://newsroom.mcafee.com/article_disp ... le_id=3554

Here's their current top 15:
Position Celebrity
1 Jessica Biel – Major buzz about her figure and high-profile relationship with Justin Timberlake makes Jessica Biel an easy target for spammers and hackers. When “Jessica Biel screensavers” was searched, almost half of the sites were identified as containing malicious downloads with spyware, adware and potential viruses.
2 Beyoncé – Beyonce tops the MTV Video Music Award nominee list and McAfee’s results as the most frequent, highly-ranked celebrity. Inputting “Beyoncé ringtones” into a search engine yielded a dangerous Web site linking to a distributor of adware and spyware.
3 Jennifer Aniston – Hollywood’s favorite leading lady should be searched with caution. More than 40% of the Google search results for “Jennifer Aniston screensavers” contained nasty viruses, including one called the “FunLove virus.”
4 Tom Brady – The New England Patriot seems to attract many fans who want a free download of the athlete in action, but not the Trojan that comes with it, as identified by McAfee SiteAdvisor technology.
5 Jessica Simpson – Jessica Simpson is as dangerous to search online as she is famous. Searching for “Jessica Simpson videos” can mislead unsuspecting surfers to sites with potentially damaging downloads.
6 Gisele Bundchen – The world’s highest-paid supermodel is a popular target for cybercriminals. A search for “Gisele Bundchen photos” can direct users to red-ranked sites that breached browser security in McAfee’s tests.
7 Miley Cyrus – Cybercriminals are using Web sites related to Miley Cyrus’ image to link to other harmful sites containing spyware.
8 Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie – Both tabloid fixture Megan Fox and American icon Angelina Jolie resulted in an equal number of risky download Web sites, proving cybercriminals are in the business of capitalizing on the world’s most famous faces.
9 Ashley Tisdale – The “High School Musical” star is a popular search term when it comes to searching for screensavers. A host of screensaver Web sites contained numerous malware-laden downloads.
10 Brad Pitt – Appearing in the top spot last year, Brad Pitt fell towards the bottom of this year’s list, resulting in a few less, but just as dangerous, red and yellow-ranked Web sites.
11 Reese Witherspoon – Risky Web sites were identified when searching for “Reese Witherspoon” and “Reese Witherspoon photos” promoting free files with hidden malware.
12 Britney Spears – McAfee SiteAdvisor technology found a single site promoting free Britney Spears wallpaper that was embedded with more than 50 potentially infected downloads.
13 Rihanna – Free Rihanna ringtones are some of the most sought after, but some shady vendors mislead those who subscribe by gathering and selling their personal information.
14 Lindsay Lohan – McAfee SiteAdvisor flagged Lindsay Lohan screen saver sites as offering a combined 50+ free screen savers infected with Trojans, viruses and spyware.
15 Kim Kardashian – The biggest reality star in recent months is now susceptible to Internet lurkers too. A search for Kim Kardashian wallpaper and screen savers generated numerous downloads veiled with malware


Of course this press release is a plug for their product called site advisor, which purports to protect you from this sort of stuff. I remember reading a review saying that the technology really wasn't up to the task as the bad guys can put up new sites far faster than McAffe can log them and send them out to site advisor users.

It's not just celebrities either. Remember the virus last winter that rode in on USB drives. Searching for info on that quickly turned up tons of poisened sites also. These guys can turn on a dime. Anything that looks like it will be a popular search, they latch onto.

Author:  Pitifuljoy [ Thu Aug 27, 2009 4:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Don't click on these

You know, I don't think anyone of us here would go around googling any of these people.

Or am I wrong? ;) :lol:

Author:  DrDark [ Thu Aug 27, 2009 6:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Don't click on these

Yes, I doubt any of us would have much interest in googling for those folks. :laugh:

I offered the article as an example of why these poisened sites are being created and how widespread the problem is.

The best defense is to take a careful look at the google "teaser" text for the link and if it's non-sensical and the url ends in someplace like .cc or .ru, it's likely a link that's up to no good.

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