14 DAY TRIAL // Security researchers from Spanish antivirus vendor Panda Security warn of a new black hat search engine optimization (BHSEO) campaign which poisons search results related to 'Moshi Monsters' with malicious links.
Moshi Monsters is an online game for children, in which players have to care for one of the many animated monsters living in a virtual city called Monstro.
The gameplay includes solving puzzles and earning virtual currency which can later be used to buy various items for the adopted monster.
Back in March, Mind Candy, the company behind the game, reported a player count of 15 million, but since then the game has really took off and there are currently over 24 million registered accounts.
The developer has also expanded into the offline world by creating merchandise like printable trading cards and more recently, collectible wristbands.
It looks like cybercriminals are trying to exploit the game's growing popularity and are targeting the over two million new players that join every month by poisoning Web search results for "Moshi Monsters Sign In".
According to the researchers from Panda Security "this attack is being used to distribute the rogueware known as Adware/MySecurityEngine."
Rogueware refers to malicious applications that usually pose as antivirus products or system maintenance tools and try to scare people into paying for a license fee by displaying fake warnings.
Also known as scareware, these programs are amongst the most common threats on the Internet today and are regularly distributed through BHSEO campaigns like this one.
What is more unfortunate in this particular case is that the intended targets are most likely children, who will be easily fooled into installing the rogue application on their computers.
However, one should not expect these scammers to have morals, as we've seen them exploiting any subject of interest to the general public, from natural disasters, plane crashes and terrorist attacks to celebrity deaths.
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