News

Google Says No To Fake or Luring Download Buttons


When browsing on the net you can find something interesting. This may be a video, song or document that you need to be in your computer’s hardware. It is with the help of a download button that you will get the file from the net. As time progresses many malicious and deceptive download buttons seem to appear every now and then which is a risk to you and me as net users. I happened to check on the Google’s blog  and this is what I got.

“In November, we announced that Safe Browsing would protect you from social engineering attacks – deceptive tactics that try to trick you into doing something dangerous, like installing unwanted software or revealing your personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers, or credit cards). You may have encountered social engineering in a deceptive download button, or an image ad that falsely claims your system is out of date. Today, we’re expanding Safe Browsing protection to protect you from such deceptive embedded content, like social engineering ads”

Consistent with the social engineering policy we announced in November, embedded content (like ads) on a web page will be considered social engineering when they either:

  • Pretend to act, or look and feel, like a trusted entity — like your own device or browser, or the website itself.
  • Try to trick you into doing something you’d only do for a trusted entity — like sharing a password or calling tech support.
Below are some examples of deceptive content, shown via ads:
This image claims that your software is out-of-date to trick you into clicking “update”.

 

This image mimics a dialogue from the FLV software developer — but it does not actually originate from this developer.
These buttons seem like they will produce content that relate to the site (like a TV show or sports video stream) by mimicking the site’s look and feel. They are often not distinguishable from the rest of the page.
Our fight against unwanted software and social engineering is still just beginning. We’ll continue to improve Google’s Safe Browsing protection to help more people stay safe online.
Will my site be affected?
If visitors to your web site consistently see social engineering content, Google Safe Browsing may warn users when they visit the site. If your site is flagged for containing social engineering content, you should troubleshoot with Search Console. Check out our social engineering help for webmasters. “
This comes as a salvage to many of us who maintain our privacy a lot.
Facebook Comments

Spencer Adika

Author. Poet. A multifaceted CREATIVE. Inspiring you and me to be the CHANGE everyone is talking about. I have written books, buy two and gift one.

Have anything to add to this article? Leave us a comment below

Back to top button