BleepingComputer has discovered a new Blackhat SEO campaign, where unknown scammers are exploiting open direct URLs in government websites to redirect visitors to porn websites! It’s unknown how scammers are able to index them on search engine results but have successfully exploited at least 25+ government websites till date.
Blackhat SEO Scammers Inject Porn Links in Govt. Websites
Open redirect links are those which can be used by websites to redirect visitors of their choice. These will be embedded in their website to let visitors reach out for more information on them, if necessary. Upon clicking, these would often show up the original URL they’re visiting at the domain, but redirects to a website of what they had set.
With that being said, unknown scammers detected by BleepingComputer yesterday revealed exploiting these open direct URLs in government websites to inject porn websites links in them, thus redirecting to porn sites! These were cleverly indexed in search engines like Google to be found more! Researchers didn’t yet explore how this is being done, since scammers had to log in to target’s WordPress sites to index them in search engines.
Yet, the campaign is successful as they have exploited 25+ government websites till now and is continuing. Though the system admins of those concerned websites are removing links whenever they found, they still keep popping up new. Researchers said the scammers are not just exploiting government URLs, but all open redirect URLs found on the internet.
Further, they have the chance to make this campaign much worse by redirecting visitors to phishing sites and stealing credentials, but was limited to just porn sites! The government websites URLs that are exploited till now are;
eisenhowermemorial.gov
healthfinder.gov
goea.louisiana.gov
www.kfi.ky.gov
lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov
senate.la.gov
www.cftc.gov
archive.usgs.gov
hru.gov
id.loc.gov
www.weather.gov
www.jeffersoncountyfl.gov
ecfsapi.fcc.gov
www.minnesota.feb.gov
bphc.hrsa.gov
akleg.gov
drafts.wichita.gov
highered.colorado.gov
supplier.raleighnc.gov
search.wi.gov
www.maurycounty-tn.gov
www.research.gov
srs.fs.usda.gov
arlweb.msha.gov
www.mountainview.gov
www.brooklynohio.gov
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