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How SEO Poisoning Works

We can say that SEO poisoning is one of the security issues that can affect a web page. A main objective for any private user or company that has a website is to position it correctly in search engines. In this way, visitors enter Google, for example, and through a series of terms they can reach that page.

This is what is known as SEO. It is all that entails that this same article becomes relevant to search engines. Now this can also be used by hackers to increase traffic to certain sites that are actually malicious. This is also what is known as Black Hat SEO.

Basically what a hacker is going to do with SEO poisoning is optimize a page so that it appears in the first results when search in Google or any search engine. The victim will click on that site thinking it is relevant, but they will find that they have actually accessed a page that may be dangerous.

Keep in mind that search engines more and more they improve their operation to know how to detect this problem. However, as with many types of attacks, pages that are fraud can sometimes sneak in and appear among the first results.

This is usually a website that belongs to the attacker. They can create it to report on a certain topic, promote a popular product or anything that can be successful and receive many visits. But they could also use a legitimate site, which they control and modify for their purposes.

What can they achieve with a Black Hat SEO attack?

We have explained what is SEO poisoning or also known as Black Hat SEO. It is something that logically could put Internet users at risk. Now let’s see how it could affect us. We are going to explain what cybercriminals can get with this technique.

Sneak malware

One of the most common uses of a website with SEO poisoning is trying to sneak malware To visitors. They can upload malicious files with the aim that the victim downloads them thinking that they are legitimate and that nothing is going to happen.

We already know that there are many varieties of malware. Many kinds of malicious software they can put our equipment at risk. In many cases they arrive through downloads that we make on sites that are not legitimate. Hence, cybercriminals make use of these techniques.

Stealing passwords with Phishing attacks

Of course they can also position a website well with the aim of steal passwords of the users. They can create a page to carry out Phishing attacks. In this way, the victim will log in thinking that they are in front of an official page, but in reality they are handing over their access codes to cybercriminals.

Redirect traffic to other scam sites

Another issue to take into account is that that web page could be used as a bridge to reach other places where the threat really is. That is, they could use SEO poisoning to attract traffic to a created website and this page has links that redirect to content hosted on other servers and that are really a danger to computer security.

This technique is also widely used for the two cases that we mentioned above: the theft of passwords and the delivery of malware. Hackers are constantly looking for ways to lure victims to dangerous sites.

Promote fake products

Of course they can also use Black Hat SEO to promote certain products that are actually a fraud. For example, let’s say a new mobile, a novel smart watch or any device comes out. They can create a fake page to attract users and even sell that product but in reality it is a hoax.

How to avoid falling victim to SEO poisoning

Now we are going to talk about the most important thing of all: how to avoid being a victim of this problem. We must take into account certain recommendations that can help us to reduce the risk of having security problems in our equipment.

Verify that the website is official

Something basic will always be to verify that the website we are accessing is official. Must check url, the information they show and the general appearance. In this way we will avoid giving our data or downloading a file on a site that is actually false and has been created only to attack, but has appeared in Google in a good position due to SEO poisoning.

Always check the links we access

Another issue to take into account is to always check that we are going to click on a link and see that we are really going to a legitimate site. We have seen that a Black Hat SEO strategy is to redirect traffic to dangerous pages. Therefore, you always have to maintain common sense and not enter a URL that redirects us to a page that has nothing to do with what we expect.

Keep computers protected

On the other hand, the importance of keeping our devices properly protected cannot be overlooked. We must maintain security at all times. Intruders must be prevented from entering by security programs, in addition to having all the updates. In many cases vulnerabilities can appear that are exploited by cybercriminals, hence we must have all the patches.

In short, SEO poisoning is a problem to take into account when browsing the Internet and conducting a search. We must always check that we are entering a legitimate site and never put our equipment at risk.

Why it is important to protect our accounts

Any account that we create on the Internet must be properly protected. We must generate a password that is strong, that prevents the entry of any intruder. We should never leave our records unprotected.

Keep in mind that our personal information they have great value on the net. This will cause a possible intruder to collect information that can be put up for sale on the Internet, use it to attack our contacts on social networks, create personalized Phishing campaigns …

All of this makes us always properly protect any account In Internet. This also applies to the different programs and services that we use and where we are going to host personal content or data that may relate to us.

On many occasions we can make mistakes when protecting a registry or a device. Sometimes just creating a key is not enough, as there could be leaks. This makes it interesting to apply two-factor authentication whenever possible. This will add an extra layer of security. But without a doubt something that can not be missing is to have a periodic review and change the access code from time to time and thus avoid a possible leak that could affect us.

Steps to protect Google history

We have mentioned the importance of always protecting our accounts or whatever services we use. Now we are going to explain what to do to protect Google history. The search giant is going to store what we previously searched for. It will save our activity to offer us more personalized results and even also so that we ourselves obtain certain data.

Google allows you to protect this information. It allows us to encrypt the history and thus prevent a possible intruder from accessing the data that we have saved. This can be very useful in order to preserve privacy at all times.

The first thing we have to do to protect the Google history is to log in with our account. Once inside, we have to click on the Settings icon and enter Manage your Google account.

Subsequently, in the menu on the left you have to click on Data and personalization. It is the third option that appears. We have to go down until we see Activity and timeline. There you have to click on My activity.

A new window will automatically open. There we have to give Manage verification of My Activity.

We have to mark the option of Need additional verification. We simply have to hit save.

From that moment on, Google will ask us for the account password in order to view the activity history. If, for example, someone has access to our computer or we leave the account open on the work team, it would be necessary to enter the access code to show the history.

Tips to protect your Google account

But we want to give some more tips to protect our Google account. We speak in a general way, some recommendations to prevent intruders that could compromise our privacy. We need everything to stay in good shape.

Create a strong password

Something essential is going to be creating a key code make it strong and complex enough. This means that we must create a unique password, which has letters, numbers and other special symbols. All this also in a random way. We should never use the same one that we already use in other services.

Ultimately this is the main barrier that will allow us to keep intruders out. We must have good protection and thus reduce the risk as much as possible. We can use key managers to help us generate strong passwords.

Enable two-step authentication

But the password is not the only security barrier we can have. There are more and more services in which we can use the two-step authentication. One of them is the Google account. We can add this extra layer to protect our account.

For this we have to enter once more in Settings. Later we go to Security and click on Verification in two steps. We will have to configure it as we want, since we can receive an SMS with a code or even use an application on the mobile.

Use official apps

A very important issue that we must take into account is to use official applications. It is true that today we can count on many third-party programs that offer the possibility of surfing the net, logging in or making use of different features, but without becoming official programs.

If we use this type of software we run the risk of using something that has been maliciously modified. We don’t really know who may be behind that tool. This makes it very important to always opt for legitimate, official programs.

Common sense

On the other hand, one more point that we can take into account to protect our Google account is the common sense. We should never make mistakes such as logging in through a link that may be insecure or downloading programs from sites that are not legitimate.

Most cyber attacks are going to require user interaction. They are going to need us to click somewhere or download some dangerous file. Therefore, if we maintain common sense at all times we will have a lot of money to protect our Google account or any other service that we use on the Internet.

Ultimately, in this way we can protect the google history. We have mentioned the importance of keeping your account safe and also some recommendations to avoid problems at any time.

Methods they can use to get into a computer

The cybercriminals they constantly refine their techniques to attack users. They always look for a way to break any vulnerability, to sneak malware, to put computers at risk. When we talk about methods for them to enter our computer, they can use different ones to achieve their objective. Let’s see the main ones.

Trojans

Undoubtedly one of the most used methods to be able to control a computer in an illegitimate way, to be able to access a computer, is through a trojan. There are many different types, but basically we can say that it is a malware that allows remote control from another device.

Trojans can sneak in, creating a back door on your computer. The antivirus does not detect it and the hacker would have full access. It could control system functions, change settings, sneak even other varieties of malware, etc.

Vulnerabilities in remote desktop

Today it is very common to use the remote Desktop. Very useful to work without having to be physically in a place. Windows and other operating systems have a large number of options. Some of them are integrated, while we can also make use of external programs.

However, on many occasions there may be vulnerabilities. We may be using programs without patching, without updating correctly. This could be exploited by hackers and carry out their attacks. They could access our computer through this type of failure.

Malicious program download

Another widely used method is by programs we download from the internet and they are not safe. They can sneak in any variety of malware that allows a hacker to access your computer. For example, Trojans could sneak in, as we saw earlier, but also other varieties that can compromise us.

This is a very common reason for our computers to get infected. The software we download may have been maliciously modified and contain any variety of malware that affects us.

Insecure Wi-Fi network

Of course they can also use insecure wireless networks to steal information or access our equipment. Nowadays it is very common to enter a Wi-Fi in public sites like a shopping mall, airports, etc. Intruders could be on that network without our knowledge, waiting for the victim to connect.

Detect intruders on your computer

We will also see different methods that can help us detect intruders on the computer. They can tell us that something is wrong and that we need to take action as soon as possible. Only then can we improve security.

Analyze the system

A basic initial step is to perform a system analysis. For this, we must have an antivirus installed that allows us to detect possible varieties of malware. For example, it could detect Trojans, something that would alert us that something is wrong and could mean that there are intruders on the computer.

Notice a malfunction

Another important issue to consider is whether we notice a malfunction general computer. For example, if we notice that it works slowly, that when browsing the Internet there are errors, that the network speed is very limited …

All this could indicate that our computer is malfunctioning and that there could be a cybercriminal. This would help us make decisions with the aim of improving security and preventing personal data from being stolen.

View programs or folders that shouldn’t be

Did we notice anything weird about the team? They may have appeared programs or files that were not there before. This could be software that an intruder has installed or folders that have been moved. This could also give us a clue that our computer has been infected and a cybercriminal has taken control.

How to prevent them from entering your computer

It is very important to always keep our equipment safe. We are going to give some essential recommendations to avoid intruders on the computer and to minimize the risk of being victims of any type of attack.

Always use security programs

Something basic and that cannot be missed is the use of security programs. We are talking, for example, of a good antivirus, as well as a firewall that can protect the network. There are many security threats on the Internet. Many types of attacks that in one way or another affect us.

Thanks to security software we can prevent hackers from taking control of our computer. We can reduce the risk and also avoid other varieties of malware that can compromise us.

Upgrade systems

On many occasions, security flaws appear that can be exploited by cybercriminals. We have discussed the case of remote desktop programs, but it could also affect the operating system itself.

Our advice is to always keep the updated equipment adequately. You have to avoid any obsolete program or have without updating the firmware of the network card or any device. This is very important to reduce the risk of problems.

Download only from legitimate sources

Of course, something else we should mention is the fact that you only download from sources that are official. We must avoid downloading files from third-party sites, since they could have been maliciously modified and be a threat to our computers. We must always use pages and platforms that are legitimate.

Common sense

Yet another issue is the fact avoid making mistakes. We should not, for example, download email attachments if we suspect that they may be a threat. Also, do not open links that could be malicious.

In most cases, the intruders will need the interaction of the victim. They are going to need us to take some action. This makes common sense vital to avoid security concerns.

Therefore, these are some essential tips to prevent them from entering our computer. It is essential to maintain security and not take any kind of risk.