malware

Google may harm your computer – Malware warning error

January 31, 2009 By Dan Thornton

Google Search appears to have gone into a Malware warning meltdown, with every natural search result being flagged with ‘This site may harm your computer’. And that includes Google itself!

My first though was perhaps a local virus, but within seconds of posting about it on Twitter I started getting responses indicating that it’s affecting everyone.

I’m sure it’s probably a momentary problem, but it’s annoying as you have to go to any site via the Google Warning page and then copy and paste the url manually to reach your destination site – and in the meantime there’s no way to tell which sites might really be flagged up as dangerous.

Incidentally, there’s no news yet on the Google Blog, which is also flagged as dangerous via search!

Update: 3.09pm GMT:

News results within search results appear to be fine, and Image Search is OK as well. Meanwhile Twitter has gone into overdrive about it. It seems as if StopBadware.org, which Google uses for Malware information etc, is down, which is a likely cause.

Google News Search and Google Blog Search both appear to be running fine (Via @Jobsworth).

Update: 3.22pm GMT – Normality Restored.

It looks as if the Apocalypse has been postponed as results are back to normal. Although StopBadware is still offline.

Update: 5pm – Official response from Google:

There’s an official response on the Google Blog – An update to the url list of bad sites supplied by StopBadware was released, and…

‘Unfortunately (and here’s the human error), the URL of ‘/’ was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and ‘/’ expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.’

Marissa Mayer, VP, Search Products & User Experience

Twitter trojan malware – and some site/tool updates

August 7, 2008 By Dan Thornton

There’s been quite a lot of coverage over Malware arriving on Twitter, rather than just irritating spam. A link to a pornographic film prompts you to download a new version of Adobe Flash – which is actually a downloader containing 10 banking Trojans disguised as MP3s. There’s loads more details, here. So, as with any other email or weblink from someone you don’t know, treat links as suspicious – and downloads doubly so. If not more!

On a brighter note, I’ve made some updates to the Tools page to include some new additions, such as sites like Globme, Blippr and Beemood. Plus more tools like Phweet and Posty. There are loads more than need adding shortly, and we’re speaking with the creators of some of them to get more information on the how, why, and what next for the most popular, most interesting and most useful of the bunch.

Why does it take a security risk to prompt me?

April 28, 2007 By Dan Thornton

Yet again, I’ve plodded around the internet, getting on with day-to-day tasks, and it’s only a possible security risk that’s prompted me to make sure my anti-virus software is updated, make sure I’ve got the latest versions, and I’m up to date with the latest risks..

You’d think after 10 years on the net I wouldn’t need that type of reminder. But that’s why I’m annoyed with myself, particularly as so many anti-virus and anti-malware tools have an auto update function…

For the record, I’ve currently got the company supported Norton Anti-Virus, Spybot Search and Destroy, Lavasoft Ad Aware, and AVG sitting on my machine, and for once I’m actually reading the manuals and getting everything set up properly…

If I end up writing a post like this again, feel free to insult me. it’s the only way I’ll learn…

IT could lead the revolution…

January 18, 2007 By Dan Thornton

In many companies, the IT dept are seen as the geeky blokes who come and fix your PC when it breaks, and maybe, those who monitor your emails and snaffle all your best gossip and naughty links…

But isn’t there a possibility that someone, somewhere, could make the decision to allow them to lead the changes needed in companies that haven’t been web aware?

Consider this… almost all the great internet brand names come, somewhere along the line, from fairly technical, or at least web savvy people being involved. From Microsoft through to Myspace, Picasa or Wikipedia, there was, at some point, a geek in a fairly prominent position in the company to make the technical side happen, and convey the enthusiasm of a new peer-to-peer TV service like Joost, for example.

In most ‘traditional’ companies, tech words are part of business lingo speak, and to be derided. Meanwhile anyone who can actually log into a site is seen as a tech geek.

Part of this is down to the fact that for most people, their PC is a locked down typewriter. Your email is monitored, downloads are blocked, and sites are banned. And this stops anyone with a vague interest in learning more from actually being able to do anything, unless they can afford a PC of their own, and want to devote their spare time to it. Meanwhile the IT people are seen as a barrier to innovation, and spend their time apologising for the fact you can’t download a new patch to save time, effort, and money in your day job…

So why not actually look to change? Why not encourage any appropriate person in the company to download new software, register to new sites, and actually experience the point of having a net connection in the first place? Even if it’s simply using an IM client to chat, it means somewhere is getting more knowledge about the possibilities out there, and might end up selling advertising, or come up with an entirely new variation.?

The only reasons I can see are the fears that everyone would spend all day mucking around (unlikely…in my opinion the novelty soon wears off. And most people probably wouldn’t be fussed, limiting the interest to those most suited for experimentation and learning), and the threat of internet trojans, viruses, and other malware. But surely it’s better to have an IT dept that is completely up-to-date and taking on those threats and beating them, rather than trying to simply avoid encountering problems. After all, every new business idea comes from identifying and tackling challenges and risks, and that’s what stops every man and his dog from having an idea like Google, or Ebay. And then IT will even be seen as a force for good.

And as an example of this irony, I’m lucky enough to have greater access on my PC currently. Yet I need to get an IT engineer to let me run an anti-virus scan… Genius.