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Updated on November 16, 2024, 8:51 p.m
Looking for a Bengal cat? You should also be careful when it comes to cat content on the internet. (Symbolic image) © Getty Images/iStockphoto/Seregraff
Have you ever heard of “SEO poisoning”? This scam has now become fatal for some Internet users who wanted to find out more about cats.
A fraud attempt in Australia is currently making headlines, targeting people who had previously submitted a very specific search query to Google:
“Are Bengal Cats legal in Australia?”
So the question is whether Bengal cats are legal in Australia. Anyone who clicked on one of the first Google results was directed to a real-looking information portal that was all about the expensive pedigree cats.
What the users didn’t know was that the moment they reached the website, malware and spying software was installed unnoticed on their computers. The goal: sensitive data and banking information. Behind this perfidious scam is so-called SEO poisoning.
What is SEO poisoning all about?
- The abbreviation SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which translates as search engine optimization: If websites, online shops or individual articles are optimized according to certain quality criteria, they appear at the top of search engine queries on the Internet. There are numerous methods and tools to achieve this goal – which unfortunately fraudsters can also take advantage of.
- According to the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), cybercriminals use these search engine optimization techniques in SEO poisoning to place fake or manipulated websites high in search engine results. “This gives the illusion of seriousness,” says a spokesman for the BSI when asked by our editorial team.
The case in Australia is a clear example of how fraudsters approach SEO poisoning: They build optimized websites that match frequently asked search queries and hide malware there. So, as the name suggests, it is “poisoned” search engine optimized content.
Looking for a Bengal cat? You should also be careful when it comes to cat content on the internet. (Symbolic image) © Getty Images/iStockphoto/Seregraff
The fact that these were pedigree cats in this case is probably due to the fact that there probably weren’t too many websites on this exact question. And that this question is asked frequently. After all, cat breeds that result from crosses with wild cats are banned in Australia. But any other topic could have been misused for this purpose.
Threat also in Germany: How do you protect yourself from SEO poisoning?
Although this attempted fraud does not pose a direct threat to search queries in German-speaking countries, SEO poisoning can also affect German-speaking websites.
The BSI therefore recommends that users use an antivirus program or so-called endpoint protection. In this way, malware that is distributed via fake websites can be detected and rendered harmless.
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It is also important to surf carefully. “Irrelevant content, typos or other anomalies should arouse suspicion. Then the desired website should not be accessed by clicking, but by manually entering it into the URL bar,” said a spokesman.
But what if you have already fallen victim to SEO poisoning? In this case, it makes sense to clean up the system or set it up completely from scratch. “A criminal complaint and, in the event of damage, a report to the insurance company – household contents insurance often offers protection – are also sensible measures,” says the BSI.
Sources used
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