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The use of popular internet trends and searches for the distribution of malicious software (malware) – many experts in the matter say that this method of delivery is more or less the standard for most types of phishing software and malware. The latest method of distribution from criminal gangs was hiding links to rogue antivirus sites behind the Google Doodle.

On Tuesday, Google visitors were greeted with a very questionable search results page when they clicked on the Doodle artwork paying tribute to the Esperanto creator L.L. Zamenhof which was displayed on the Google homepage.

The flag was displayed, like many date-appropriate modifications, on Google's front page, in the same way as pictures of Santa Claus at Christmas. Clicking on the "Doodle," performs a Google search for the relevant terms.

However, the cyber criminals had struck first in this case. Many of the top search results from clicking on the Doodle contained malware, pushed to the top of the rankings by black hat SEO techniques. Visitors unfortunate enough to click through to one of the sites were affected by scareware & rogue anti-virus scams.

A Google spokesman said that this type of problem affects other search engines as well. Google is aware of Tuesday's Doodle problem and has "already removed many of these sites from our index. To do this, we have manual and automated processes in place to enforce our policies."

He continued, "We're always exploring new ways to identify and eliminate malicious sites from our index."

Scareware combined with black-hat search engine optimisation has drastically increased in popularity among cyber criminals in 2009.