Beware of Malware Pushers Targeting 'Kate Middleton Topless Pictures' Search Results

For many years, hackers have thrived on popular hot-topic search keywords to ramp up their efforts to formalize a business of spreading profitable malware campaigns at the expense of innocent computer users. One of the latest Internet hot-topics showing up on the radar of malware campaign-spreading hackers is the search for terms Kate Middleton surrounding alleged sunbathing topless photos or pregnancy rumors.

Fresh off of the heels of news outlets reporting that a French tabloid published a series of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless photos and pregnancy rumors, we are starting to suspect an up-tick in malware campaigns targeting related search terms. Not only are the terms revolving the search for Kate Middleton in some compromising photo or her speculated pregnancy hot topics, but it will rank amongst last year's searches for Pippa Middleton (Kate's sister) topless photos and the more recent Prince Harry Las Vegas billiards nude photos.

There is always some type of intriguing delight that people get out of the curiosity for the famous Royal Couple and their family. From the very first announcement of Prince William and Kate Middleton's engagement, to the afterthoughts of their blissful marriage, people have a natural infatuation of the couple and will continually conduct Internet searches to find the latest happenings in their Royal lives. You can almost compare the Royal Family to that of Hollywood big-screen actors who are also in the current media spotlight such as Kristen Stewart.

The riveting news of Kate Middleton being exploited in such a way with purported 'sunbathing topless' photos is a travesty to the prided Royal family's values. It was bad enough that Prince Harry had his heyday just last month when photos of him nearly exposing the Crown Jewels for the world to see during his Las Vegas billiards fiasco were uncovered. The recent Kate Middleton sunbathing topless 'exposure' and rumors of her being pregnant will be no different, unfortunately.

You may be asking, what you should look out for when searching for hot topics such as Kate Middleton sunbathing topless or if Kate Middleton is pregnant. There is really no way of knowing with a 100% certainty if a search result is malicious or leads to a phishing or malware campaign site. Most antispyware software is able to actively monitor and detect malicious Internet sources, commonly blocking them if you make the mistake of clicking on one. Many malicious sites are part of recent malware campaigns known to promote and distribute rogue antispyware applications. Usually these sites will resemble a trusted PC security vendor that actually sells security software. Hackers could even spread ransomware threats, such as Ukash Virus or FBI Monypak Ransomware, used to collect fines through a bogus warning message after they lock up infected systems. In any given case, you should ensure that all of your software, specifically your antispyware or antimalware software, is updated. If you are not running antimalware or antispyware software, we highly suggest taking a step to install such software.

The specific, targeted keywords that hackers may use to poison Internet search results related to Kate Middleton topless pictures or pregnant rumors, are as follows:

• kate middleton pregnant
• kate middleton nude
• kate middleton pictures
• kate middleton photos

As shown below on Google web search chart, the Kate Middleton terms are trending upward. (Source: Google Insights)

The Google web search interest chart below is a current comparison of the Internet news search results of Kate Middleton pregnant and the previous news of Prince Harry's Las Vegas billiards debacle. As you can see, Kate Middleton related searches have now surpassed those of the older Prince Harry news. Naturally, when a web search report indicates a sharp rise in interest, malware creators get to work to poison Internet search results to spread new and creative malware campaigns.

Many of the expected malware campaigns could elaborate on Kate Middleton beyond her reported nude photos and rumors of pregnancy. Hackers may spice things up with search results that claim to lead to videos of Kate Middleton or alleged confirmations of Kate's pregnancy. The possibilities are virtually endless as to how far hackers will go to exploit hot news topics.

Have you performed any searches in the past week related to the Royal family or anti-Islam film U.S. Embassy protests? Do you suspect any of the sites or links you clicked on were laced with malware?