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Scammers Compromise Google Doodle Search Results
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2009-12-16
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A significant number of the people who expressed interest in yesterday's Google Doodle may now have malware-ridden computers as a result. Clicking on the Doodle led to search results for "L.L. Zamenhof," and apparently a majority of the top 50 results were poisoned sites.
 | | Scammers Compromise Google Doodle Search Results |  |
To clarify for the sake of Yahoo or Bing users: yesterday, the logo on Google's homepage was altered to honor the creator of Esperanto (an invented language that was supposed to be universal). Users could learn more by clicking on the logo and seeing search results relating to Zamenhof.
Unfortunately, scammers also picked up on this fact, and as Elinor Mills reported, "Dave Michmerhuizen, a research scientist at Barracuda Networks, found 31 poisoned sites among the first 100 results, 27 of them in the first 50 sites alone."
This occurred despite Google's efforts to root out dangerous results, too.
So be careful if you decide to research any Google Doodles in the future. Regardless of how hungry you are for facts (some of the Doodles are pretty fun and/or weird), it may be best to stick to relatively safe sources of info like Wikipedia. Or just wait until the next day, by which time Google will have probably gained the upper hand playing scammer whack-a-mole.
About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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