Topic: Searching can lead to malware

[Clive]

Searching the internet using even the most innocent terms can lead surfers to malware and other online nasties.

Security company ScanSafe has analysed search data from Google, Yahoo and MSN and concluded that one in five popular searches can lead to offensive or illegal content, while two per cent can put you at risk of downloading malware onto your PC.

?Most websites look benign, and we trust the results we get, but the fact is searching the web nowadays is like rolling a dice ? you don't know what you are going to get before you click,? said Eldar Tuvey, chief executive of ScanSafe.

Bloggers are especially at risk, according to ScanSafe, as hackers are increasingly finding them to be an attractive target. Earlier this month hackers used a security flaw to install some malicious code in blogging software that could be downloaded from the popular WordPress service.

?The advent of Web 2.0 and the soaring popularity of blogs, social-networking and the resulting explosion in user contributed content have made it significantly easier for hackers to insert malware,? said Tuvey.

http://www.scandoo.com/