As internet and web technologies evolve, security becomes more of a problem for webmasters and online business owners. The threat model has grown immensely over the years, and internet users are forced to deal with a number of challenges. Some of the biggest threats plaguing the cyber world today involves one of the biggest names on the internet – Google.
Click Fraud
A relatively new type of internet scam, click fraud is a plot that mainly targets advertising companies, in this case, that target is Google. Many scam artists have used this ploy to take advantage of PPC (Pay Per Click) programs by republishing ads on other web pages. While this isn’t necessarily an illegal practice, the major issue is that it becomes easy for virtually anyone to create a rogue website and publish a list of ads. These ads in turn, aid directly in click fraud by allowing the publishers to act as middlemen and share revenue from the Google AdSense advertising program. Most people participating in this scam are doing so on such a small scale that their treachery often goes undetected. However, others are in it for substantial gain, utilizing advanced software tools the trick the advertising company into believing that the clicks originated from different computers or even different countries. Another form of click fraud is used to cost the competition money or eliminate them from the ad rotation by maxing out the amount of funds the business has set aside for their budget.
Fighting click fraud can be a costly venture, especially when factoring in expensive legal fees. While preventing this practice is difficult, organizations can protect themselves to some extend. This can be done by searching for suspicious patterns of repetitious activities such as clicks that originate from the same IP address, a sudden surge in clicks originating from a small group of keywords, or a boost in click-throughs without any notable increase in business transactions. Anyone involved in PPC should beware of this scam as it can cost you severely. Although more search engines are aware of click fraud, nothing is guaranteed and policies for reimbursement may not work in your favor.
Google Hacking
Google hacking is another threat increasing in popularity. As the name implies, this exploit revolves around the widely used Google search engine. Hackers utilize Google in seek of passwords, error message and even web cam connections, all of which can give an intruder the key they need to penetrate an insecure server. Unfortunately, default error messages often reveal more information than they should, details that can be very useful to the knowledgeable attacker. There are also a number of sites that enable attackers by providing them with comprehensive details on how to commit Google hacking. Server administrators can protect themselves from this malicious ploy by setting up custom error pages, disallowing directory listings and avoiding putting HTML links on web pages that will entice Google spiders to search the page.
Is Google Secure?
Although Google has been the target of numerous exploits as of late, it remains a reputable entity that is doing all it can to mitigate the threats. Be that as it may, it is important to know that attackers are using the Google name to commit scams, thus you should always take the necessary measures to protect yourself.
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