Some Web site operators are complaining that Google is flagging their sites as containing malicious software when they believe their sites are harmless. At issue is an interstitial page that Google presents when a user clicks on a search result link to a site that Google believes contains malware. The page cautions users with the words "Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!" Google does not block access to the site, but a user must manually type in the Web site address to continue.

Now some organizations with sites that get the warning are complaining that their sites do not contain malicious software, and that the warning is embarrassing. "We have no bad software or installs or anything that would indicate a need to ban people from viewing our site," Matt Blatchley, who works for the Greenbush Southeast Kansas Education Service Center, wrote in a posting to Google Groups.

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News source: PCWorld


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(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by Jugalator on 12 Jan 2007 - 10:36
Here's the Google Search, click the first link:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Greenbush+S...+Service+Center

Hmm, seems like Google could really show the user a breakdown of exactly what is suspicious, but then on the other hand true malicious sites could perhaps use that information to sidestep Google's analysis. I wonder what's causing it really, if it's just an ordinary webpage... Their front page looks like having very ordinary "1997-ish" HTML and isn't even complex at all. An outsider like me could easily browse the page structure and saw nothing special, not even script code. Perhaps Google is being ticked off due to something else on their server when they spidered it though.
Quote this comment #1.1 Posted by YaddaMe on 12 Jan 2007 - 14:33
Nope, the site was flagged for a valid reason.

AFAIK it was only 1 single page of the entire site, but it was still there this morning (a full 7 days after they claimed they were wrongly flagged) & attempting to instal some sort of trojan. As such the flag for their site containing malicious software was indeed legit.

The above leads me to believe that the site's owners/operators were completely in the dark about the malicious script, & this service needs some work in assisting these webmaster clean up their site if it was unintentional/unknown/etc. As it stands currently, StopBadware won't point out the malicious code for you, you are on you own to get clean.... but what if it's someone like Greenbrush.org & was unaware?

Ultimately, you are responsible for your own site, but do Google/StopBadware expect users to be content with "Figure it out yourself" as a reply?

IMHO this service needs to be shelved until the appeals process can be adequately staffed & tweaked to help out the innocent.

Last edited by YaddaMe on 12 Jan 2007 - 14:46
Quote this comment #1.2 Posted by YaddaMe on 12 Jan 2007 - 14:44
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Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by plasmo on 12 Jan 2007 - 11:14
yes very weird
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