Zscaler defends Firefox users from SEO attacks

A new tool for Firefox claims to block malware delivering their payload

Researchers at cloud security specialist Zscaler have developed a tool designed to stop infections from poisoned web pages.

The free Search Engine Security tool is designed to mask the browser from attacks where malicious code is embedded in pages. This code flashes up a fake virus alert or request for a codec and tries to download malware onto the viewer's computer.

"We saw that traditional anti-virus was struggling with this kind of attack, " said Michael Sutton, vice president of security research at Zscaler.

"In general less than a quarter of anti-virus engines were detecting these binaries because they change so fast. We think we can break the attacks with this tool."

Based on Zscaler research, virtually all popular search terms include malicious content in the top 100 results. In some situations up to 50 per cent have been malicious, and Google is the primary target.

Such attacks deliver customised software depending on the type of browser. By masking the referrer, the software is never activated.

"I'm not aware of any tool that covers this issue," said Julien Sobrier, senior security researcher at Zscaler. "The tool development didn't take too long. What took more time was understanding how search engine optimisation works."

The tool is being released for Firefox initially, he said, as it has the best developer toolkit for add-ons. If it proves popular Zscaler could port it to other browsers.