Oct 26, 2010 16:54 GMT  ·  By

Security researchers warn that the recently released "Paranormal Activity 2," which enjoys unprecedented success at the box office for a horror movie, is targeted in a new black hat search engine optimization (BHSEO) campaign. With Holloween only days away, it's understandable why a lot of people would be interested in going out to see a horror movie.

And Paranormal Activity 2, the sequel to last year's low-budget movie with the same name, which went on to become the most profitable film every made, is the hottest thing in cinemas right now.

The sequel is itself a surprise, having earned $41.5 million during the first weekend at the box office and officially becoming the biggest horror opening ever, topping the previous record held by "Friday the 13th."

The movie has peaked a lot of people's interest, who are now using the Internet to search for reviews, as well as discuss it on forums, blogs and other social media websites.

However, researchers from Panda Security warn that cybercriminals are taking advantage of this by poisoning search results related to the film.

The rogue links direct unsuspecting users to pages, that distribute scareware applications or dangerous trojans.

Scareware is a term referring to programs that pose as antivirus or security software, with the intention of scaring users into paying money for useless license keys.

Once installed on a computer, these applications display bogus security alerts about fictitious infections allegedly found on the system.

The Panda researchers warn that search results for other horror movies like "Friday the 13th" or Halloween-related topics, such as printable party invitations, have also been poisoned.

One of the rogue programs spread via these BHSEO campaigns is called Desktop Security 2010. Users are adivsed to always surf with an up-to-date antivirus program installed and to refuse downloads from websites claiming their computers are infected with malware.