Experts: Using Google search for downloads is increasingly dangerous

Looking for a download? That’s quickly typed into Google, is probably often the answer. Security researchers are now warning that search results for popular software are increasingly including prominent malware ads.

Search the download on Google: Better look carefully when you click

It was already known that when searching for downloads, you should always check exactly from which source you are actually downloading something. According to the experts from spam house but clearly changed. Accordingly, security researchers are actually used to observing a fairly “moderate flow of advertising for malware via Google Ads”. In the last few days, however, there has suddenly been a massive increase in “malvertising” around well-known brands and programs.

As Spamhaus emphasizes, this late peak in activity in the malware industry does not match previous observations. “That’s not the norm,” say the experts. As shown in cooperation with abuse.ch, a Thunderbird ad was placed in Google Ads on January 30th, which leads to a fake download page. A little later, imitation Microsoft Teams download pages were discovered. Spamhaus was also able to identify a number of domains that are advertised via Google Ads and are disguised as sources for Nvidia drivers and software.

misunderstanding for google

This is exactly where Spamhaus raises clear criticism. The domains used to spread malware and advertised on Google have often been newly registered only recently. “Across the security industry, the immediate use of newly registered domains is associated with high-risk activity,” said Spamhaus Project domain expert Carel Bitter.

Across from Ars Technica Google did not want to comment on the criticism and only provides a very general statement that confirms the researchers’ observations: “We are aware that there has been an increase in fraudulent ad activity lately. We are working to eliminate these incidents as quickly as possible possible to fix.”

At this point, we at WinFuture are of course happy to refer to our fast and secure download center, where you can download the current versions of many popular programs without having to fear dubious forwarding. Of course, we also provide you with the latest updates for Windows here.

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