Tuesday , July 1 2025
SEO Poisoning

150 Gov.t Portal affected
Black-Hat SEO Poisoning Indian “.gov.in, .ac.in” domain

Indian government and educational websites, along with reputable financial brands, have experienced SEO poisoning, causing user traffic to be redirected to dubious sites promoting rummy and other investment games.

Analysts at CloudSEK have found that threat actors are using black hat Search Engine Poisoning to promote Rummy and investment websites to unsuspecting users. They are targeting sites with .gov.in and .ac.in domains, employing keyword stuffing related to well-known Indian financial brands. Over 150 government portals, mainly from state governments, have been impacted.

First couple “Rosie” to conceive using AI tech “STAR” successfully

Doctors at Columbia University Fertility Center have reported what they are calling the first pregnancy using a new AI system,...
Read More
First couple “Rosie” to conceive using AI tech “STAR” successfully

Scattered Spider Actively Attacking Aviation and Transportation: FBI

Cybersecurity experts and federal authorities are warning that the Scattered Spider hackers are now targeting aviation and transportation, indicating a...
Read More
Scattered Spider Actively Attacking Aviation and Transportation: FBI

Russia’s restrictions on Cloudflare making websites inaccessible

Since June 9, 2025, Russian users connecting to Cloudflare services have faced throttling by ISPs. As the throttling is being...
Read More
Russia’s restrictions on Cloudflare making websites inaccessible

61 million Verizon records allegedly posted online for sale

A new report from SafetyDetectives reveals that hackers posted a massive 3.1GB dataset online, containing about 61 million records reportedly...
Read More
61 million Verizon records allegedly posted online for sale

Cyber Expert ‘Rene Joshilda’ Arrested for Bomb Hoaxes

A 30-year-old robotics engineer from Chennai set off alarm bells in 11 states by allegedly sending hoax bomb threats. She...
Read More
Cyber Expert ‘Rene Joshilda’ Arrested for Bomb Hoaxes

Critical RCE Flaws in Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC Allow to Gain Root Access

Cisco has issued updates to fix two critical security vulnerabilities in Identity Services Engine (ISE) and ISE Passive Identity Connector...
Read More
Critical RCE Flaws in Cisco ISE and ISE-PIC Allow to Gain Root Access

CISA Warns of FortiOS Hard-Coded Credentials Vulns

CISA warns about a serious vulnerability in Fortinet FortiOS that threatens network security. CISA included CVE-2019-6693 in its Known Exploited...
Read More
CISA Warns of FortiOS Hard-Coded Credentials Vulns

5 vendors’ printer totaling 748 models affected: Rapid7

Rapid7 has revealed serious vulnerabilities in multifunction printers (MFPs) from Brother, FUJIFILM, Ricoh, and Toshiba Tec Corporation. These findings, covering...
Read More
5 vendors’ printer totaling 748 models affected: Rapid7

Citrix Released Emergency Patches for Actively Exploited CVE-2025-6543

Citrix has issued security updates for a critical vulnerability in NetScaler ADC that has been actively exploited. The vulnerability CVE-2025-6543...
Read More
Citrix Released Emergency Patches for Actively Exploited CVE-2025-6543

SonicWall warns of a trojanized NetExtender stealing VPN logins

SonicWall warned on Monday that unknown attackers have trojanized its SSL-VPN NetExtender application, tricking users into downloading it from fake...
Read More
SonicWall warns of a trojanized NetExtender stealing VPN logins

What is Search Engine Poisoning?

Search engine poisoning refers to malicious practices aimed at manipulating search engine results to promote harmful or deceptive content. These tactics are typically employed by cybercriminals to redirect users to fraudulent websites, distribute malware, or launch phishing attacks. Techniques in play are Referrer Header Manipulation, Cloaking, Keyword Stuffing, Backlinking, Underlying system Vulnerabilities.

Source: Techcrunch

Threat actors injected malicious JavaScript into vulnerable government websites, including state portals, to manipulate search engine rankings. The script redirects mobile users from search engines like Google to gambling sites, while showing error pages to desktop users to avoid detection.

One compromised Kerala government webpage, for instance, was altered to include hidden keywords like “instant personal loans” and “low-interest credit cards” tied to major Indian banks.

Analysts found over 12,000 spam pages leveraging .shtml and .aspx file uploads on government servers, with content mirroring Indonesian casino templates to bypass regional filters.

Users searching for legitimate financial services are funneled to pages promoting rummy games disguised as “investment opportunities”.

Since January 2025, Google has removed 2,300 malicious pages, but ephemeral domains and encrypted traffic remain challenges. With annual losses over ₹200 crore, this issue underscores the urgent need for better defenses in India’s digital governance.

Builder claims Rs 150 cr for data loss; AWS faces FIR In Bengaluru

Check Also

FortiGate

Hackers retain access to patched FortiGate VPNs using symlinks

Recent incidents continue to bring this into focus with active exploitations of known vulnerabilities as …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *