Online Searches for Prescription Drugs Increasingly Redirecting to Illicit Websites

According to the "Shots" report of NPR at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), approximately one online search from every 3 to get information about drugs actually diverts Web-surfers onto illegal sellers of the item, thus published iHealthBeat in news on August 15, 2011.

Indeed, as per computer scientist Nicolas Christin at CMU, there's a wholly crowding out of authentic health resources. HealthLeader published this on August 15, 2011.

Recently, when an acquaintance of Christin enquired why queries regarding Viagra popped up on his blog, the computer scientist along with his co-workers conducted an investigation regarding accidental attacks that diverted online searches. Consequently, Christin found that there was malware on 32% of the websites, which got exhibited within search returns related to prescription drugs.

Christin stated that it was extremely difficult for obtaining genuine pharmacy sites alternatively info that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention happened to provide. Instead, malicious results overwhelmed the searches, he added.

PC-hackers slip malware into authentic Internet sites in order that the resultant illegitimate websites will appear within the search results associated with prescription drugs. And when anyone follows these search results, they're led onto a pharmacy site instead of the actual one. Also those owning the hacked website normally never get to know that someone compromised their URL.

Evidently, hackers commonly inject their malware into Internet sites having URLs ending with .gov or .edu since people generally trust them as sources of authentic details as also the URLs rank very high within Google searches.

However, Web-surfers hunting for drug info online increasingly mayn't get the required details. Therefore according to Christin, it's advisable that users don't simply, without thinking twice, enter drug names for online searches as the returns may really take them onto illicit sites.

Reportedly, the first search return displayed the University of Massachusetts URL for one computer science lab, while being described as "Cialis No Prescription OVERNIGHT SHIPPING." Also, clicking the URL led surfers onto an online site hawking a $3.30-priced general Cialis pill.

Conclusively, according to FDA, consumers are recommended that they should merely follow pharmacies, which the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy duly accredits.

Related article: Online Card Fraud Shows Greater Tendency Than Chip and Pin

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