People who spread malicious software via the web are smart. They are adept at watching the news, predicting search trends, and gaming search engines so that their malware infested pages can rank high for 'soon-to-be-popular' search terms. To do this, they use a variety of legitimate tools (such as Google's amazing Insights for Search tool) and a variety of 'black-hat' search tactics (such as paid links, building a group of interlinked pages, and injecting links on fraternity guest books).

Begrudging respect aside, V3.co.uk reported that cyber-criminals have begun targeting search terms related to the recent outbreak of wildfires in California. Think about this for a moment - people are interested in learning more about this major news story. They want to learn how to protect their homes, and they want to learn about how their friends and families are weathering this latest disaster. Isn't it sad that criminals choose to target these kinds of people?

Of course, I should not be surprised. Fraudsters make their 'livings' targeting the vulnerable. Hardly a day goes by when I don't read a story about how some criminals take advantage of elderly people in telemarketing scams. Fraudsters target vulnerable people because they want to make as much money as they can while exposing themselves to as little risk as they can. Not only are vulnerable people easier 'marks', they are also less prone to report their crimes to the appropriate authorities.

My question for you is simple. What can we do to stem the flood of online fraud? Increasing penalties is almost useless since cyber-crime knows no borders. If one country tightens up its laws, cyber-criminals will simply relocate to countries with looser laws. Search engines are very adept at spotting fraudulent sites and removing them from their indexes, but studies like this show that they are not adept enough.

I would like to posit one potential solution. What if we could find a way to decrease the amount of profit that fraudsters could make? I work for a company that has come out with one way to do this - SmartSwipe will cut into a fraudster's bottom line by encrypting (or scrambling) your credit card information as you swipe your card through the device. If we can all band together and help protect each other, cyber-criminals will have no other choice than to leave the vulnerable alone.