14 DAY TRIAL // Internet users who perform a simple Google search for the Windows anti-malware software Malwarebytes may be redirected to a phony website that relies on the product’s reputation to advertise other not-so-friendly applications.
Malwarebytes’ CEO Marcin Kleczynski learned of these fake sites after instructing some of his acquaintances to go to the download website by performing Internet searches.
“Unfortunately, there exists a market where bad people benefit by preying on our users. They create websites which advertise that they distribute Malwarebytes and instead, download a product of their own onto our user’s machine,” he wrote.
While his company’s legal team tries to find ways to stop these malicious plots, users are advised to visit the website malwarebytes.org directly to prevent from ending up on who-knows-what location that does more than serve a fake product.
This is not the first time when we’re presented with a situation like this. In the past we’ve seen a lot of incidents where malware-serving websites were featured even as paid advertisements on popular search engines.
Since the use of search engines is a common and useful practice, it’s hard to get everyone to type the name of the website directly into the browser’s address bar and that’s why it’s important to check for certain things that can give away the true identity of a phony site.
First of all, the URL is the most crucial. If it looks suspicious or if it contains the name of the website after the domain’s extension, then you’re probably presented with a webpage cleverly set up to mask an illegal operation.
Also, be on the lookout for things such as secure connections. Graphical elements can be easily replicated, but popular websites, especially those that store sensitive or credit card information, usually use https connections and they’re vouched for by a legitimate SSL certificate.