Warning: Aggressive Google AdWords Phishing Campaign Spreads Via Email

Google AdWords has proven to be an exceptional program offering publishers and Internet marketers with a viable option to pay for exclusive online advertisements. After all, about 80% of Google revenue is generated from AdWords. Regrettably, over the past few days, security experts have taken attention to a new phishing scam that attempts to extract data from Google Adwords users.

This new Google AdWords phishing scam is circulated through malicious emails containing verbiage advising various AdWords users that their ads have stopped running because of 'a number of issues'. Within the phishing email is a link provided for 'more information', which when clicked, redirects the user to Google login page that looks rather convincing but is essentially a fake web site.

Dynamics of the Google AdWords Phishing Scam

The fake website that users are redirected to contains login fields for users to enter their Google login credentials. After the information is filled in, the user is then directed to an AdWords FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page, which was found to allow access without logging into a Google account.

The latest rash of phishing scams spread through emails is not all that different from the Google AdWords campaign. Experienced computer users seldom fall victim to these scams; however, the users who may not be familiar to how such scams are conducted will be more apt to relinquishing their personal information.

A Google for a Google - How single Google Account Access Could Affect Multiple Services

You may be asking yourself, how much damage can a hacker do if they have Google AdWords login credentials? Potentially, to your surprise, a Google AdWords login may be the same login used for other Google services. Basically, phishing scams such as the recent Google AdWords campaign are designed to steal the login information to one Google Account thus arming a hacker with unadulterated access to several of the victim's Google accounts such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs and AdSense. Usually these services are under the same Google account umbrella and can be accessed using a single username and password.

Researches uncovered the domain 'google-oft (dot) com' to be a culprit of the Google AdWords phishing campaign. Eric Polaski, is listed as the person who registered the domain through an Australian Internet Service Provider, in addition to other suspicious domains such as 'paypal-ail (dot) com' and 'paypal-frd (dot) com'. Security researchers, including our SpywareRemove.com malware research team, suspect that this Eric Polaski could be at the forefront of future phishing attacks attempting to mimic popular online services.

Users of AdWords, as well as those who utilize other related online services, should take heed to this new phishing campaign so they do not become the next victim. Additionally, using an updated copy of an anti-spyware or anti-virus application is an excellent to have as a 'first line of defense' in the event that an email or embedded link is detected as being malicious.