Google Search Looks for Intercepts

[6charlong]

More news from Google. The company has added a feature to its ubiquitous search engine that notifies users when a particular form of malware used to redirect a search to a proxy site known to spread a Trojan loaded through one of those fake "antivirus" tests.

PC World's report is here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/23607..._spx_h_cbintro

This tool is only available for Windows machines, at least for now.

[speakingtohe]

Sounds like a plan, now if they can just track down those guys running those sites and.....

Helen

[kjk]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

More news from Google. The company has added a feature to its ubiquitous search engine that notifies users when a particular form of malware used to redirect a search to a proxy site known to spread a Trojan loaded through one of those fake "antivirus" tests.

PC World's report is here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/23607..._spx_h_cbintro

This tool is only available for Windows machines, at least for now.

Because this malware only infects Windows machines, for now.

[Purple Lady]

That screen looks just like the screen that pops up to entice you to click on it and installs a virus on your machine if you do. I would think they could have designed the screen a bit better. I would never click on something like that.

[carpetmojo]

I was once misled by one of the (many?) fake Windows sites - the logo, wording, colour, etc.. was pretty much perfect, and resulted in getting a bing toolbar and browser that I didn't want, didn't like, that took very little notice of what I wanted to do, and that sent me to other fake sites - it was a nightmare.

Finally got clear and rid of it, thanks to the excellent [ free ] "Spyware Warriors" site, and I'd recommend them to anyone........

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Sounds like a plan, now if they can just track down those guys running those sites and.....

Helen

That's a rather big "if," unfortunately.

[mldavis2]

Sadly, we will never be able to prosecute these pfishers and spammers due the lack of comprehensive international laws and extradition restrictions. And any OS that gains a significant percentage of the market is or will be targeted proportionally to its popularity as Apple users are finding out lately.

My solution (insane and impossible as it may be) is to require training and licensure before allowing people on the internet. That would virtually eliminate the millions of people who fall for bogus scam artists, Nigerian $Millions and malware hoaxes. If we could eliminate those who unwittingly acquire and spread these viruses, the criminals would go find another more lucrative form of financial theft and digital mischief.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by sonamunda

Change your OS then try again

[mldavis2]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Not sure who that was intended for. I've used several OS's including Linux, Win and Apple. None of them have given me any trouble whatsoever. Claims of superiority of one over another are a myth perpetuated by inexperienced users. Don't let this thread morph into a flame war, please.

If Google or any web page or ISP causes problems, it can be blocked or avoided by judicious application of common sense and/or filters.

[SameOldStory]

Originally Posted by sonamunda

Change your OS then try again

I'm about to try Ubuntu (for the 3rd time). It either didn't like my motherboard or GPU.

This time I have a GPU that's faster than my whole system. We'll see if that makes it any better.

Originally Posted by mldavis2

My solution (insane and impossible as it may be) is to require training and licensure before allowing people on the internet. That would virtually eliminate the millions of people who fall for bogus scam artists, Nigerian $Millions and malware hoaxes. If we could eliminate those who unwittingly acquire and spread these viruses, the criminals would go find another more lucrative form of financial theft and digital mischief.

That would work as well as Drivers Ed. Lots of nice people still have stupid accidents.

I vote that we reopen the gulags in Russia. But without electricity, computers, phones, etc. Twenty years should be long enough.



Another problem is that no matter what we do there are people planning to work around the defenses.

I laughed the first time that I heard that people could put a virus in a word document. Going to the PC World front page I sat this;
Apple MacBook Batteries Vulnerable to Malware, Destruction. I'm not laughing.

This too has been in the news lately;
DHS: Imported Tech Tainted with Backdoor Attack Tools

We can either tolerate the problem, or ..... Or what?

[Snarfblat]

I got caught by one of these sites a few months ago, after many many years of running virus/malware free. It was so frustrating and time consuming to get rid of, that I dumped WindowsXP and installed Ubuntu. I've tried variations of Linux in the past, but this one stuck. So far so good!