New Google service could be a godsend to scammers

The Instant Previews service that Google launched last week allows users to click on the magnifying glass icon next to a result’s title or on its background in order to see a preview of that result.

There is no doubt that this feature is very helpful when it comes to skimming through legitimate links, but a Websense researcher thinks that the service could prove to be counterproductive when it comes to avoiding poisoned search results.

“Our research shows that the images shown in Instant Previews is not updated as frequently as anyone might assume,” says the researcher. “Therefore, we don’t think this feature would help users as much in making an informed decision on judging whether a link is indeed malicious or not.”

As you can see in the picture above, the offered links seems pretty legitimate – pertinent text, pictures – but if the users follow the link, they are redirected to a fake Firefox Update page (as evidenced yesterday).