Hackers lure users, install malware via Google Search

New Delhi, March 3 : Cyber security researchers have found a new malware that is tricking Google into treating hacked websites as trustworthy sources and presenting innocent users with apparently “perfect matches” to their search queries on the platform.
The hackers are using the malware dubbed as “Gootloader to lure “well-meaning users” into installing the malware on their devices, putting them at ransomeware risk, according to the report by Naked Security, which is global cyber security firm Sophos’s threat intelligence unit.
The Gootkit malware family has been around more than half a decade — a mature Trojan with functionality centered around banking credential theft.
However, in recent years, almost as much effort has gone into improvement of its delivery method as has gone into the malware itself.
This is how the modus operandi works.
The hackers break into hundreds of web servers and implant artificially generated content containing phrases that search engines are likely to associate with expertise in a specific field, like real estate, employment law, import/export regulations, company partnerships and more.