Internet Security Trends Prove We Are A Sick, Sick Bunch

Norton has a new web site which ranks how risky the Internet is on any given day, and points out which search terms scammers and evil types are using to try and distract casual Internet users. The results prove that the human race is doomed. Doomed, I tell you!

Norton gave me a pre-launch demo of the Norton Cybercrime Index service a couple of weeks ago. One of the metrics it uses to track nefarious activity is identifying which search terms are ripe targets for “poisoning” — setting up pages loaded with malware but which will show up as search results for topics which have suddenly become popular. On the day of the demo, these were the top search terms being targeted for poisoning:

• Invisible
• Camel toe
• Wifetube

“Invisible” showed up because of news stories about invisibility technology doing the rounds. OK, that’s fine, but as for the others? Aaargh. I think people who go searching for the phrase “camel toe” don’t deserve a lot of sympathy if they get hit by a drive-by download. (Insert your own Wifetube/infection joke here; I’ve lost the will to live.)

Picture by woaw