GOOGLE WARNS ON UNSAFE WEBSITES

[Anonymous]

Google warns on ‘unsafe’ websites
Google
has started warning users if they are about to visit a webpage that
could harm their computer.The warning will pop up if users click on a
link to a page known to host spyware or other malicious programs.The
initiative comes out of a larger project cataloguing programs that
plague people with unwanted ads, spy on web habits or steal personal
data.Google is one of several companies trying to act as an “in-flight
adviser” to ensure people stay safe online.The warnings will be seen by
anyone using the search engine who clicks on a link to a site
identified as harmful by the Stop Badware coalition.Google, PC maker
Lenovo and Sun set up this initiative in January 2006 to identify
dangerous software and the websites that try to trick people into
installing these malicious programs.Initially the warnings seen via the
search site will be generic and simply alert people to the fact that a
site has been flagged as dangerous. Eventually the warnings will become
more detailed as Stop Badware researchers visit harmful sites and
analyse how they try to subvert users’ machines.The warning suggests
that people try a different site but if they want to continue to the
potentially dangerous webpage Google will not stop them.A research
report released in May 2006 looked at the safety of the results
returned by a search and found that, on average, 4-6% of the sites had
harmful content on them.For some keywords, such as “free screensavers”
the number of potentially dangerous sites leapt to 64%.The research
report was partly sponsored by McAfee’s SiteAdvisor which also warns
people when they are about to visit potentially harmful sites.Another
company ScanSafe has also created the Scandoo search engine which
overlays its warnings on results produced via Google and MSN.”Most
dodgy websites that have spyware or are infected with viruses come
through search,” said Eldar Tuvey, chief executive of ScanSafe.
“Because they are the ones that people do not know as well and find
through searching.

[Author]

August 8, 2006 at 11:31 AM