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The Web’s MostDangerous Search Terms
ReportThe Web’s Most Dangerous Search Terms
Table o Contents
Introduction3Key Findings4What Makes Certain Search Terms Risky?4Study Methodology5McAee SiteAdvisor rating methodology 6Sources o data 6Rankings7Country-specifc risk summary fndings 7Deep dive with Hitwise data 7Study Limitations8Discussion o Related Work9Conclusion10Most Dangerous Search Terms by CountryEuropeAustria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,Germany, Italy, Poland, South Arica, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom11North AmericaUnited States16About McAee16
By Shane Keats, Research Analyst, McAee, Inc. andEipe Koshy, Sotware Development Engineer, McAee, Inc.
3ReportThe Web’s Most Dangerous Search TermsIntroduction
Unless you work or or own an online business, chances are you’ve never heard the terms “searchengine optimization” (SEO) and “search engine marketing” (SEM). Yet these two phrases—SEO (theeort by site owners to get their website ranked higher by search engines) and SEM (the use o paidadvertising to gain prominent placement on search engines) are increasingly important vocabulary termsor businesses that seek to prosper on the web. Unortunately, legitimate businesses are not the onlyones gaining uency with this new language.The scammers—rom solo operators to organised criminals—have quickly realised that the same searchengines that enable legitimate businesses to reach more consumers can also be used by criminals toseparate more victims rom more o their money.This paper examines a new phenomenon—the use o search engines as a conduit or proft-drivenhackers—by analysing the risk o searching or more than 2,000 o the most popular words and phrases(“keywords”) used in search engines in 2008. From “Jonas Brothers tickets” to “game cheats” to “Vivala Vida lyrics,” these keywords represent a broad slice o what search expert John Battelle calls our“database o intentions.”Along with our “intentions,” this database also reveals how much risk we expose ourselves to each andevery time we put our avourite search engines to use. How much risk? For some keywords like “popularscreensavers” and “descargar google” and certain o their resulting pages, the risk can be pervasive—75% or more results (three out o our) can lead to increased web security risk.This should not be surprising to observers o security trends. Since hacking or ame has given way tohacking or proft, malicious players have grown increasingly sophisticated in their ability to fnd largepools o potential victims. By measuring the relative risk o popular search terms, this study confrms thatscammers continue to target the largest pools o victims.But this study also ound some interesting evidence to the contrary. Previous McAee
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studies o websaety have shown about 4% o sites to be risky. This is a broad measure o the overall risk we acewhen we use the web. By contrast, the average risk level o all results pages we studied was just 1.7%.This study is broad and directional. New tools and research methods need to be deployed to allow usto better understand the mechanics o how search is being misused. We hope this study helps pave theway or other studies that take on these important questions.
The scammers—rom solooperators to organised criminals—have quickly realised that the same search enginesthat enable legitimate businessesto reach more consumers canalso be used by criminals to separate more victims rom moreo their money.
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