"Bengal cats" web search and internet security

[Apate]

There is an article in The Times today that is about the way that if anyone types " Are Bengal cars legal in Australia" into Google it can load malware into your computer which can steal financial & identity data etc.

Obviously there are other search terms that these cyber criminals are able to use which makes me feel that as the internet becomes less and less secure and our info do much more vulnerable that could this mean that people use it less for such things? I know it's making me think twice but how else to conduct life admin without it?

www.thetimes.com/article/eb498a2a-e48e-4b8d-a64b-f229fd6b842d?shareToken=bdf569550c3a90406ce3f48f8788408f

I knew my Britannica Encyclopedias would come back into fashion. I knew it!

No that's a slightly misleading assessment (which the article has gone with to get clicks, presumably). You still have to click on the search results, it's not Google itself with the security issue. Typing the words into Google doesn't cause the problem, but Google should potentially be doing more to stop these malicious sites from being ranked or included in their directory.

You have to not only google Australian cats but also then click through the dubious link it throws up. Just googling something doesn’t allow malware to be downloaded, unless I have misread the article.

I think you misunderstood the article. What it means is that some searches such as the one above have few results and scammers are making web pages that answer this question and it's these sites that download the malware not the Google search. It's a good reminder to not just go to the site at the top of the page.

It is the website not the search term per se that is dangerous. They built niche websites in low use search terms so that they will be at the top of the search engine.

The Google ad sites at the top of the page are most dangerous as they mimic places like DVLA and I never understood how they are allowed to be there. They charge money for free services that you would get from the real site or worse harvest card details.

I get it all the time when looking foe crochet patterns. The search engine brings up websites and some have been fraudulently set up as phishing website.