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Google Search Results Listings Can Be Manipulated For Propaganda (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

A feature of the Google search engine lets threat actors alter search results in a way that could be used to push political propaganda, oppressive views, or promote fake news. From a report: The feature is known as the "knowledge panel" and is a box that usually appears at the right side of the search results, usually highlighting the main search result for a very specific query. For example, searching for Barack Obama would bring a box showing information from Barack Obama's Wikipedia page, along with links to the former president's social media profiles. But Wietze Beukema, a member of PwC's Cyber Threat Detection & Response team, has discovered that you can hijack these knowledge panels and add them to any search query, sometimes in a way that pushes legitimate search results way down the page, highlighting an incorrect result and making it look legitimate. The way this can be done is by first searching for a legitimate item, and pressing the "share" icon that appears inside a knowledge panel.

3 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. I came for the news. by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 2

    Didn't see any here, but stayed for the comments anyway.

  2. This is interesting, why the hate? by Paxtez · · Score: 4, Interesting

    At first I thought this was about SEOs or something, but it is a legit attack/bug/thing. I've never seen anyone post about this issue before.
    This just allows you to attach any info panel to any search result. So you could make one:
    "Where was Obama Born" and have it show a full width info box about the planet Mars. Which definitely makes it seem that Google says he was born on Mars.
    https://www.google.com/search?...

    This would be good for businesses too. Make a URL for "What is the best restaurant in Chicago" with the info panel for you business, and put that link on your site.

    This will totally get fixed. I guess it will bet set that if you go to a url with a search and info panel, ensure that the info panel would display with that search.

  3. Re:Chuckle by SuricouRaven · · Score: 3, Informative

    Law and politics are long-term careers. To reach the top takes decades of career advancement - which means the people who occupy them now generally grew up in a time when computer technology was known to the public only as sci-fi movie props showing spinning tape drives and rampaging robots. That they understand technology today at all is a sign of impressive adaptability, given how rapidly it has advanced. The IBM PC is less than fourty years old, and internet access has been available to the public at large for less than thirty. When the first provider started making access to Usenet available to anyone with money and a modem, John McCain was already 56.