MALWARE ALERT

There is a new wave of malware on the web that is using Google and other search engines to lure unsuspecting people into downloading various malware. As usual, Windows systems seem to be most at risk, but there are now a few pieces of malicious software targeting Mac systems. Here's a companion article from the BBC on the same subject. Sunbelt Software has a list of search terms that may lead to infected search results. As always, use caution when downloading, keep all firewalls, spyware and anti-virus software updated, and use it. A good defense may be the use of virtual browsers, also known as sandboxes which isolate the rest of your hard drive from malicious programs.

FROM EWEEK.COM:
Malware Poisoning Results for Innocent Searches
Tens of thousands of malware-serving pages, crafted to reach a high search engine ranking, are showing up in the first page of returns from Google, Yahoo and Live.The seeding of malware into pages returned from searches for innocent terms has reached epic proportions, security researchers say.
Malicious iFrames, rootkits and fake codecs are being served up on tens of thousands of sites returned as results for searches for such things as alternate router firmware or "how to for Microsoft Excel."
For example, recently a Sunbelt Software researcher, Adam Thomas, searching for "Netgear ProSafe DD-WRT," found on the first page of Google returns a page that redirected to a site pushing a fake codec.
Codecs, often used in videoconferencing or streaming media, encode a stream or signal for transmission, storage or encryption and decode it for viewing or editing. Malware often poses as a codec, luring victims into installing programs with the false promise of providing access to streaming media.
Sunbelt Software President Alex Eckelberry told eWEEK there are now "buckets" of domains involved. He sent eWEEK a list of 27 such domains, each of which contain 1,498 pages.
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