alt Hacker News> How can the average 7zip user know which one it is?
I dunno, if you type "download 7zip" into Google, the top result is the official website.
Also, 7zip.com is nowhere on the first page, and the most common browsers show you explicitly it's a phishing website.
This is actually a pretty good case of the regular user being pretty safe from downloading malware.
Replies
sedatk • yesterday at 6:11 PM
> I dunno, if you type "download 7zip" into Google, the top result is the official website.
Until someone puts an ad above it.
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TiredOfLife • yesterday at 8:27 PM
> Also, 7zip.com is nowhere on the first page
In incognito window, for me, it's 3rd result
I feel I need to clarify my earlier comment. I was asking how can a user tell, in general, what is the legitimate website of a software, not just how to know what 7zip.com is malicious.
Are the search removals and phishing warnings reactive or proactive? Because if it is the former then we don't really know how many users are already affected before security researchers got notified and took action.
Also, 7zip is not the only software to be affected by similar domain squatting "attacks." If you search for PuTTY, the unofficial putty.org website will be very high on the list (top place when I googled "download putty.") While it is not serving malware, yet, the fact that the more legitimate sounding domain is not controlled by the original author does leave the door open for future attacks.