Google gets overprotective, flags whole internet as malware
When you conduct a search, you may notice "This site may harm your computer" warnings under the headlines of each search result. And when you click a link to visit a site, there's a good chance you'll see a window warning you to go back to where you came from.
Google seems to be in the process of correcting the error. A few minutes ago we couldn't find a link that wasn't labeled as malware, but now a search for Download Squad fortunately comes up clean. But when a company as large and influential as Google indiscriminately labels sites as dangerous, even for just a few minutes, it's not pretty.
Update: And the crisis seems to be over. But it lasted long enough for Download Squad reader Kewal Shah to capture a funny image which you can see after the break.
Update 2: Google has issued an explanation. Basically Google maintains a list of dangerous sites, and that list gets updated from time to time. Today it was updated, and one of the values added to the list this morning was "/" which covers, you know, the whole internet.
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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris said 10:48AM on 1-31-2009
Oh, good thing it was just a mistake. For a second there, I thought Google was attempting a electronic coup to take over the internet.
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Muffin_man said 10:52AM on 1-31-2009
Haha that picture is priceless.
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kewsvnet said 11:00AM on 1-31-2009
thank u :)
Eugenijus said 11:40AM on 1-31-2009
One more picture from Lithuanian google version:
http://youlikeit.lt/files/2009/01/google-grybas.jpg
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rob said 12:41PM on 1-31-2009
I was able to grab a shot of most of the Google products listed as malware: http://www.flickr.com/photos/orangejack/3240712047/
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Rob Williams said 12:12PM on 1-31-2009
I was able to grab a screenshot of most of the Google products with malware notes: http://www.flickr.com/photos/orangejack/3240712047/
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Brian said 12:12PM on 1-31-2009
Was is a bug or was google hacked?
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ryan10ad said 12:13PM on 1-31-2009
I find it ironic, but with text expander I somehow searched for Google at google.com instead of Gmail. Even Google blocked it's self, so this is probably a botched install / inside hacker (guy with a pink slip?)
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emax said 3:24PM on 1-31-2009
i knew something was up....
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Butters said 3:24PM on 1-31-2009
So Google explains the error on their blog, here:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html
It seem an update to the list of harmful sites provided to Google included the parameter "/", which expands to include all URLs.
In Googles words:
"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."
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Radical Dreamer said 3:29PM on 1-31-2009
On the Internet, no one can hear you scream....
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birthday is 1990 said 5:03PM on 1-31-2009
Should have done a google search for google...
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kewsvnet said 8:01PM on 1-31-2009
have a look at the second screenshot above...lol
jbjg24m said 5:10PM on 1-31-2009
I JUST GOOGLED MYSELF AND IT MADE ME GIGGLE!!
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RH said 9:40PM on 2-06-2009
I saw that happening earlier! I thought it was the oddest thing, too! What I didn't realize was that it was coming from Google... I was trying some new Firefox extensions at the time (especially Interclue - awesome btw :-) and really thought it was just the extension causing the error!
Good job w/ the screenshot!! That even crossed my mind, but again, I didn't think it was Google itself... so who would've cared??
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Ethan said 10:28AM on 2-01-2009
This quite accurately demonstrates the need for a 'continue' button on these pages, as I can Imagine a few users just gave up during this time. It was quite amusing.
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Hamman Samuel said 9:47AM on 2-02-2009
8-| Wao, and I thought I had misconfigured my proxy server or some worm had gotten into my PC. Its a relief that it wasn't just me!
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