Even though Microsoft may not like it, as it’s trying to make more and more people use Microsoft Edge, some users download Google Chrome from Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. What’s strange is that Bing returned a malware as a search result, something that Microsoft has been aware of and, allegedly, fixed.
Users who have used Bing to search for how to download Google Chrome have come across malware. It was an ad which ranked ahead of organic results. So many users have fallen into that trap and accessed the malicious link. Microsoft has already solved the problem, as they reported, but it is unknown how many users have been affected. More concerning, however, is that once again the attackers have managed to bypass the security filters of the Redmond-based company, this time directly within Bing, its search engine.
Users who tried downloading Google Chrome from Bing bumped into malware
The malicious ad looked like an organic search result, something that is legitimate, and it was looking like linking to the official Google.com site. But, in reality, the cyberattacker was actually redirecting visitors to googleonline2018.com and offered a Google Chrome version infected with malware. While that malicious link was blocked by the Google search engine automatically, Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, and the Microsoft Edge Internet browser took no action against the URL in question.
Microsoft has stated that “protecting customers from malicious content is a priority,” so they have already removed the ad that was redirecting users to a Google Chrome version infected with malware.
What is even more worrying is that this is not the first time throughout this year when Bing shows malicious results to users looking for downloading Google Chrome. On the other hand, in the Windows 10 store, apps that use phishing techniques to deceive users by pretending to be a well-known company have also infiltrated too often in 2018.
