One of the biggest risks now facing computer users is that of link poisoning.
New research findings from the Websense Security Labs has found that it doesn’t matter how careful you are, typically, you may be only two clicks away from malicious content with the outcome being an infected computer or network.
Cybercriminals are increasingly poisoning search results with malicious links. For instance, searches for trending news and buzz words increased from 14 percent in early 2010 to 22 percent a few months later. This new Websense research shows that you have a higher chance of exposure to malicious content if you’re looking at stuff like the latest breaking trends, and that’s even more than if you were looking for sexual content.
Link poisoning is happening at an increasing rate as criminals are learning to target very specific terms. For example, in the Websense research, 30 percent of their results for baby bedding and décor in London were poisoned, and 12 percent of the results for vehicle car parts in Toronto were also compromised.