MS security centre served porn

The Microsoft Safety and Security Center was hit by a search bug over the weekend that led results to pornographic websites.

GFI Labs manager Alex Eckelberry noticed the search poisoning bug returned pornograhic result terms.

“Normal search poisoning is where results come up that directly link to a site. However, blackhat search engine optimisers (SEOs) have created Microsoft Security Center search results on specific terms," Eckelberry said.

"These terms include things like: porn; free porn; streaming; YouTube sex; and even: ‘baby girl names'. If you search using a different term, say ‘United Nations', you'll get real, normal results."

He said the SEO campaign was "pretty tricky and impressive" and used a Bing-branded search toolbar dubbed Zugo which had a history of malicious installations.

Microsoft closed the flaw hours after Eckelberry flagged it.

This article originally appeared at scmagazineuk.com