Scam links on government sites: How SEO poisoning threatens public trust

For crores of Indians, the word "government" is synonymous with trust. Around a dozen government websites have been found "poisoned" with malicious links promoting scams, often themed around betting, investment, and cryptocurrency. In what appears to be a well-organised criminal enterprise, poorly secured government websites are injected with keywords and phrases related to popular online search topics, such as growing a YouTube channel, finding work-from-home jobs, affiliate product reviewing, self-improvement, digital marketing, blockchain, cloud computing, and ways to generate passive income. The Online Building Permission System of the Assam government, Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Uttar Pradesh National Health Mission, Nagpur Municipal Corporation, the Centre for Excellence in Postal Technology of India Post, and Maharashtra’s Registrar of Firms are among the notable victims of SEO poisoning. On BreachForums, one such post advertised delivering high-quality links with Domain Authority scores reaching up to 98, sourced from "high-authority sites", with a promise to comply with Google’s standards.