Search engine ads are not always as they seem. Cybercriminals can take advantage of the ability to precisely target potential victims, tricking them into clicking malicious links prominently displayed before the intended legitimate destination.
This blog post takes a detailed look at the increasingly sophisticated usage of the technique known as cloaking, which is used to surreptitiously direct users to malicious URLs from search adverts displaying legitimate URLs of real companies.
How does cloaking work?
For legitimate adverts displayed in search engine results pages, when the link is clicked, it directs the user to the displayed website. These adverts are ostensibly verified by ad publishers such as Google or Bing. Bing’s platform is also used by Yahoo and AOL.
The most naive use of fake search adverts displays the fake destination to the victim. If clicked, this would direct the user to the website as displayed, albeit a malicio
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