Link Exchange – Virus Distribution Warning

Written by Chris Harpin   

As most pro-active web site owners will know, link exchanges are one of the factors which work towards attaining a strong search engine ranking.

What has surprised me today is the way in which link exchanges are also being used in order to distribute viruses to unsuspecting site visitors.

I often advise clients to exchange mutual links with other web site owners and I have one client in particular whom is proactive in this area.

Whilst I shall not name my client, I will highlight the site which requested the link as tests have shown that the following ‘kind offer’ is not all that it appears to be.

'Kind Offer'

Over the weekend my client received the following email:

Dear Webmaster

I liked your website and have placed a link to your website over here:-

www[dot]shopperspoint[dot]org

Your link details are

*paragraph omitted to protect privacy of client*

Kindly check the link details and if you need any modifications, please let me know.

I would also appreciate if you link back to my website using this code:-

Interstate Movers - Perfect place to find the best interstate movers while relocating your house, goods or item to respective area.

I will keep the link active for 10 days. If you are not interested in linking back then we will remove this reciprocal link (to be fair to our other link partners).

Thanks.

Categories: Transport / Logistic / Parcel Delivery / Courier/ Shipping / Business / Miscellaneous

N.B. I have changed ‘.’ to ‘[dot]’ so that no one tries to access the url.

My client was happy with the request and asked me to set the link exchange up on his behalf. When I accessed the site, my anti virus software warned me that a Trojan had been installed on my system.

Whilst it is a simple process for a savvy user to remove a virus nowadays, this is not the perception that my client wants to send out for his business.

Link Exchange Advice

Please do not think for a second that I am advising that you stop all link exchanges. I am simply advising that you ensure your Anti Virus software is up to date and that you thoroughly inspect any sites that request a link exchange.

If you are unsure on what you are looking for, ask a friend or your web developer to complete the checks for you.

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