Spammers Now Using Google to Defeat Filters

Filed in archive Spam News on November 6, 2007

Spammers are now using Google to get their messages past spam filters. According to a report by Symantec, they've learned to exploit the search engine's "Advanced Search Feature". Users receive an email that has what looks like a Google "search results" link but actually redirects to the spammer's website. Here's an excerpt from Symantec's report explaining how it's done:

Here's what the spammer did to pull off this little magic trick:
1. The spammer devised a query string which yielded only his or her URL as result of an advanced Google search.
2. The spammer then simulated the click of the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button (notice the '&btnl=' at the end of the above URL) that will take you to the URL of the first result that comes up for the entered search query.
3. Lastly, the spammer packed this URL into a regular email and sent it out to evade spam filters.

It shouldn't be surprising that spammers have found a new way to get their messages past filters. It seems like the more spam blocking measures the industry comes up with, the more ways spammers come up with to defeat them. Fortunately, the good guys won't be giving in anytime soon!