It’s catnip for hackers.
Computer users Googling whether Bengal cats are legal to own after finding themselves victims of a bizarre cyber attack.
Cybersecurity company SOPHOS issued an urgent warning on its website, urging people not to type six words into their search engines.
Those who Google “Are Bengal Cats legal in Australia?” have reportedly had their personal information stolen after clicking on fraudulent links that appear near the top of the page.
“Victims are often enticed into clicking on malicious adware or links disguised as legitimate marketing, or in this case a legitimate Google search,” SOPHOS explained.
At present, the dangerous links only appear in the search results when the word “Australia” is included, meaning those Down Under are at the largest risk of an attack.
Once users click on a search result — which looks legitimate — they have personal information, such as bank details, stolen via a program known as Gootloader.
The program can also lock users out of their own computers, per SOPHOS.
While the search term for Bengal cats appears relatively niche, the company claims that makes the hacking threat even more alarming because you don’t have to be searching for anything nefarious in order to have your personal details stolen.
SOPHOS says cyber criminals are increasingly infiltrating innocuous Google searches by using a tactic known as “SEO poisoning.”
The practice is described by the Daily Mail as an “insidious technique in which criminals manipulate search engine results to push websites they control to the top of the page”
SOPHOS urges those who believe they may have been a victim of SEO poisioning to alter their passwords as soon as possible.