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Microsoft Tracks Down Mass Fake Web Pages
An anonymous reader writes "According to an article on New York Times, Microsoft researchers have discovered tens of thousands of junk Web pages, created only to lure search-engine users to advertisements. While most of us have run across them from time to time, the company researchers have found the pages are deliberately generated in vast numbers by a small group of shadowy operators. By following the money trail, Microsoft researchers were able to track the flow from big-name advertisers to search engine spammers. Many use Google's blogspot.com to set up spam doorway pages. 'The practice has proved to be a vexing problem for the major search companies, which struggle to prevent both spammers and companies specializing in improving legitimate clients' Web traffic -- a field known as search-engine optimization -- from undermining their page-ranking systems. Surprisingly, the researchers noted that the vast bulk of the junk listings was created from just two Web hosting companies and that as many as 68 percent of the advertisements sampled were placed by just three advertising syndicators.' The report is available at Microsoft Strider Search Ranger project page."
Is it really cheaper to use Page Ranking companies instead of just well, PAYING for an advertisement on Google or MSN or something?
Well it's about time someone tracked down these spammers. I can't count how many times I was searching for porn on the internet and got an ad page. The nerve of some companies.
It's coming from inside the building!!!
The original generic sig.
I just finished reading how much the Strider group at M$ has accomplished and how, and it is rather amazing. They lifted the covers off of typo-domain squatters exploiting Google's programs, a progressive honeypot setup that detects which levels of XP are attackable by different mal-ware attacks (up to and including reporting zero-day exploits if the latest "patch hardened" machine is exploited], and now this project. Even better, they are publishing the "how", and any OS (AKA Mac OS or any of the Linux distros) could benefit by using similar approaches on even more machines.
So -- from an admitted open source advocate -- here's a rare kudo to the giant in Redmond for keeping a "white hat" and his group -- and letting them work.
...Open Source isn't the only answer -- but it's almost always a better value than the alternatives...
I agree. I run a small business out of Nigeria that helps people in unfortunate situations recover lost money, and we rely on upfront investments from Americans. We always promise a good cut of the money to our American investors. This search engine spam really puts the hurt on my business, too.
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