ORLANDO, Fla., June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- PandaLabs, the anti-malware laboratory at Panda Security, has reported the recent appearance of a number of Web pages distributing the MySecurityEngine fake antivirus. All of these pages appear in top Web search results related to the 2010 World Cup and NBA Championships.

"The 2010 World Cup is a worldwide event that hackers are logically taking advantage of," said Luis Corrons, Technical Director, PandaLabs. "Over the last few days, we have also noticed an increase in the number of malicious links that use the Roland Garros final, Rafael Nadal's win or the NBA finals as bait. We advise users that use search engines to look for information regarding the World Cup and other big news events to be careful when clicking links returned by search engines. We expect to see attacks like this increase over the next few days."

A screenshot of the recent malicious search results is available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/4684251897/

Blackhat SEO attacks like this were first introduced by hackers a couple of years ago. Since then, they have become increasingly frequent and sophisticated, managing to insert rogue websites into the top search results in search engine listings. The system is very simple: when users look for information about major events such as the World Cup or NBA championships, the results correspond to rogue Web pages professionally indexed to rank high. If the user clicks the link, they will be asked to download a file, a codec for example. If they do so, they will be inadvertently installing a malicious fake antivirus program on their computer.

PandaLabs advises users to take the necessary precautions when visiting Web pages through search engines. Make sure that sources are reliable and reject all downloads, as you could be infecting your PC. According to Corrons, "The best piece of advice I can offer is to use your common sense when surfing the Web. Reject requests from strangers and do not open any files that come from unfamiliar sources. Make sure you have the proper virus protection on your computer and that it is up to date. Currently there are free solutions like Panda Cloud Antivirus (www.cloudantivirus.com) that protect computers against this type of threat."

About PandaLabs

Since 1990, its mission has been to detect and eliminate new threats as rapidly as possible to offer our clients maximum security. To do so, PandaLabs has an innovative automated system that analyzes and classifies thousands of new samples a day and returns automatic verdicts (malware or goodware). This system is the basis of collective intelligence, Panda Security's new security model which can even detect malware that has evaded other security solutions.

Currently, 99.4 percent of malware detected by PandaLabs is analyzed through this system of collective intelligence. This is complemented through the work of several teams, each specialized in a specific type of malware (viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, phishing, spam, etc.), who work 24/7 to provide global coverage. This translates into more secure, simpler and more resource-friendly solutions for clients.