Attempt to bump 'Keyword Hijacking' from searches?

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Attempt to bump 'Keyword Hijacking' from searches?

Postby orz » Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:11 pm

'Keyword Hijacking' is the internet's name for fraudulent prevention of google-advertised sites from receiving their fair share of hits.<br><br>This is something the cybercriminals obviously don't want us all to know.<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Security researchers have discovered a way to shut down or seriously impair a <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Google</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Adwords advertising campaign by artificially inflating the number of times an ad is displayed. By running searches against particular <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>keywords</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> from compromised hosts, attackers can cause click-through percentage rates to fall through the floor.<br><br>This, in turn, causes Google Adwords to automatically disable the affected campaign <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>keywords</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> and prevent ads from being displayed. By disabling <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>campaign keywords</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> using the technique, cybercrimals could give their preferred parties higher ad positions at reduced costs, according to click fraud prevention specialists Clickrisk.<br><br>"By disabling targeted <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>keywords</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> across many advertisers' campaigns simultaneously by artificially inflating the number of times an <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>ad is displayed</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> an attacker can secure a higher ad position," explains Clickrisk.com chief exec Adam Sculthorpe. The attack - dubbed <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>keyword hijacking</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> - is difficult to prevent because it takes advantage of a design feature of Google Adwords rather than a flaw, he added. Clickrisk came across the attack in investigating why the click through rates of one of its clients - which had been running at a steady rate - dropped to zero for no apparent reason. Subsequent monitoring and forensic testing revealed that a botnet made up of open proxies in China was responsible for the attack.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/03/google_adwords_attack/">www.theregister.co.uk/200...ds_attack/</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>If I were more paranoid I'd suggest that a certain poster on this board were trying to dilute the meaning of the phrase 'Keyword Hijacking' by using it to describe alleged subliminal messages from the CIA in pop culture. I might imply that he was conspiring with the 'cybercriminals' to stop the public becoming aware of this evil scheme to defraud honest American businesses. <br><br>But that would be insane. <p></p><i></i>
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Re: Attempt to bump 'Keyword Hijacking' from searches?

Postby Sepka » Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:17 pm

I'm reasonably certain that Hugh is sincere in his beliefs, regardless of how plausible others might find them. The technique being described in the article is a fairly old one anyway, although this is the first time I've heard of it being done on that scale or given that name.<br> <p>-Sepka the Space Weasel</p><i></i>
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