Kaspersky Warns SEO Spam Threats Target Website Owners

SEO illustration (photo: Freepik)

JAKARTA - Kaspersky warns of growing threats to website owners, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in the form of search engine optimization spams (SEOs) and hidden links embedded on official websites.

SEO is actually used to increase site visibility in search results by optimizing keywords, creating quality content, and building credible links.

However, cybercriminals are now abusing this method by injecting hidden links to manipulate search ratings and redirecting users to illegal content, such as pornography or gambling.

"Spam SEO is a serious threat that can secretly undermine the company's digital credibility and financial stability," said Anna Larkina, a Web Content and Privacy Analysis Expert at Kaspersky in a statement quoted on Sunday, October 26.

According to him, threats like this not only threaten the digital reputation of businesses, but can also have legal consequences.

The perpetrator's goal is to exploit the compromised administrator accounts, an outdated extension of the website's content management system, or server weaknesses, which allow them to directly edit site HTML codes or inject malicious scripts. Security solutions can categorize the website as forbidden' and block traffic to the site.

Blogs and popular forums are the main targets, as the traffic is high, making it valuable to upgrade attacker-controlled sites.

According to Kaspersky, attackers usually infiltrate by exploiting compromised administrator accounts, outdated CMS monitors, or server vulnerabilities.

To prevent this, Kaspersky recommended a number of security measures, including:

Conducting regular audits Businesses must always update the platform andUS CMS, implement strong passwords with two-factor authentication Implementing a web application firewall and doing regular data backup.