
The malicious webpages are filled with popular keywords in order to achieve a higher ranking in the search results. Common infection vectors Black Hat SEO īlack Hat search engine optimization (SEO) is a technique used to trick search engines into displaying malicious URLs in search results. Ĭold-calling has also become a vector for distribution of this type of malware, with callers often claiming to be from "Microsoft Support" or another legitimate organization. A 2010 study by Google found 11,000 domains hosting fake anti-virus software, accounting for 50% of all malware delivered via internet advertising. People looking for articles on such events on a search engine may encounter results that, upon being clicked, are instead redirected through a series of sites before arriving at a landing page that says that their machine is infected and pushes a download to a "trial" of the rogue program. More recently, malware distributors have been utilizing SEO poisoning techniques by pushing infected URLs to the top of search engine results about recent news events. Some rogue security software, however, propagate onto users' computers as drive-by downloads which exploit security vulnerabilities in web browsers, PDF viewers, or email clients to install themselves without any manual interaction.

Multimedia codec required to play a certain video clip.An image, screensaver or archive file attached to an e-mail message.

A browser plug-in or extension (typically toolbar).Most have a Trojan horse component, which users are misled into installing. A website may, for example, display a fictitious warning dialog stating that someone's machine is infected with a computer virus, and encourage them through manipulation to install or purchase scareware in the belief that they are purchasing genuine antivirus software. Rogue security software mainly relies on social engineering ( fraud) to defeat the security built into modern operating system and browser software and install itself onto victims' computers. Security information and event management (SIEM).

Host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS).
