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I'm using DuckDuckGo search engine to protect my privacy. Is it a safe bet to access netbanking site using DuckDuckGo?

Anders
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Cymar
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  • Possible duplicate of [Why would someone trust DuckDuckGo or other providers with a similar privacy policy?](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/12664/why-would-someone-trust-duckduckgo-or-other-providers-with-a-similar-privacy-pol) – Whysmerhill Jan 31 '19 at 14:59
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    If you're worried about search engine juste add your bank as a favorite in your browser – Sefa Jan 31 '19 at 15:00
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    Could you be a bit specific about what sort of attacks you are worried about? – Anders Jan 31 '19 at 15:14
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    What do you mean by "access netbanking site using DuckDuckGo"? Do you mean looking up your bank's address on DDG and clicking the link it gives you? Or something else? Also, what do you mean by "a safe bet"? That could mean so many things. – schroeder Jan 31 '19 at 16:31

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Definitely not, the duckduckgo is easy to fool with positioning phishing sites on top search results just like bing so when you search for your banking site it may point you to other website. Especially if it's some kind of small bank.

Aria
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TL;DR: It is not safe.

First, I find it strange that you access your bank using a search engine in the first place. It is one of the main rules to protect against phishing attacks: never just follow a link to your bank (from mail, from another site) but always enter the known URL or use a bookmark you've setup yourself.

And, while I'm pretty sure that DuckDuckGo will not try to harm you explicitly, search engines in general (and this includes DuckDuckGo) are vulnerable against SEO (search engine optimization). And there is a kind of malicious SEO where the attacker tries to hijack phrases and place their own phishing page on top. Thus it might be possible that you'll be a victim of such malicious SEO attack if you access your bank using any search engine.

Steffen Ullrich
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No. DuckDuckGo is just a search engine. Search engines can simply help you find your desired websites - in fact, Google is one. Some are more protected and anonymous though, some are less. But when accessing a website there are lots of other factors that can make your connection to the website unsecure:

  • malware presence on your system - Keep your antivirus software updated
  • MiTM attacks - Use encrypted VPNs to access the website, or use HTTPS protocols
  • phishing attacks - Make sure your website address is correct
  • server-side vulnerabilities (such as stored XSS) - No way around that from client side
Vilius Povilaika
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