Fergie's Tech Blog

Forget Porn And Gambling, Everyday Searches Can Be Dangerous

Sharon Gaudin writes on InformationWeek:

Users may be wary about malware embedded in gambling and porn sites, but one researcher is warning that simple, benign searches could land them in heaps of trouble.

Roger Thompson, a security researcher at Exploit Prevention Labs, reported that users doing online searches can easily stumble upon malicious Web sites -- normally legitimate sites that hackers have broken into to embed malicious code. Thompson is posting the problematic search terms on his blog.

"Mostly we do it because we find it fascinating to see what innocent things can get you into trouble," said Thompson in an e-mail to InformationWeek. "However, it is important for everyone to understand that you can get into trouble without visiting obviously dangerous Web sites. Lots of people think that because they don't surf to places like adult Web sites, they are perfectly safe, and that is not the case."

posted by Fergie @ 6/20/2007 12:19:00 PM