Over 6 million web pages display fraudulent ads, survey finds. A seasoned hacker has apparently managed to slip dangerous announcements into official sites, including that of the Paris Court of Cassation, IBM, Razer and Mozilla.
According to an investigation by Damien Bancal, computer security expert from the Zataz blog, a hacker managed to slip malicious and dangerous advertisements into 6 million web pages. These fraudulent ads relay to investment strategies that promise mountains and wonders, online casinos or shops to earn money with your smartphone.
A Vietnamese pirate who calls himself KK6638 is behind this massive campaign. The individual, accessible through a Telegram account, explained to Zataz that “private support always pays off”. Unsurprisingly, the cybercriminal seeks to generate profits quickly by exploiting the most naive Internet users. It is assumed that the hacker seeks to steal user data through phishing methods. It is also possible that the hacker slips malware on the portals designed by him.
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A hacker forces Google to reference scams
The investigation revealed that many known websites have been infected with these malicious ads. Among the sites pointed out by Zataz, we find the Paris Court of Cassation, the Paris Hospitals Public Assistance, Mozilla, Razer, IBM or the Canadian TV channel ICI ARTV.
At the same time, this hacker, decidedly particularly ingenious, managed to referencing their advertisements by the Google search engine. To achieve this, the scammer used techniques of “black SEO” or black referencing. Using advanced SEO techniques, he forced Google to include his websites in the first pages of search results.
This is not the first time that a malicious individual has exploited Google’s algorithms to promote scams. In June 2020, a hacker even managed to display ads “offering” free iPhones in Google Alerts, the Google service which allows you to receive alerts by email concerning predefined subjects.
Source: Zataz
