Slashdot Mirror
Software Turns Google into a Virus Scanner
Kfleming writes "Websense, a security vendor, has developed software that uses a binary search feature built into Google to hunt down malware. Using this technique researchers at Websense have uncovered over 2,000 websites hosting malware, and are also able to detect legitimate sites that have been hacked. Could this binary search feature also be used to exploit Google and trick users into downloading malware?"
Wish someone would use this to check for dups!!
BTW this is a dup.
You don't say?
This guy's the limit!
He plans on using Google as an means to track down dupes on Slashdot!
What is this google and where can i download it?
-Sj53
URL Turns google into a dupe-checker
Something that these 'security experts' seem to not understand is that the average user is ignorant of how computers/software work. Most users can't even be bothered to set up a password for their root/admin account. No amount of clever software is going to truly prevent the average user from loading his machine up with some form of malware. A step in the right direction would be simple things, like running as a non-root user by default.
Not only is this a dupe, it is also confusing that they use "binary search" to mean "searching inside binary files", and not binary search in its usual sense .
What is a *.exe? Never seen that kind of file on any of my three operating systems. Good, one thing less to worry about.
... you dupe stories, I dupe replies.
Truly pathetic.
The real story is why are we still getting 'Internet viruses' in the latter half of 2006 and why don't these 'security vendors' produce a soluton to the problem.
davecb5620@gmail.com
This looks suspiciously like self-promotion, trying to win a few dollars from Google AdSense placement. Yes, folks, Google can be used to make money. Who woulda known?
0 0.asp
Skip the linked article and go straight to the source:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,126371,
All the link does is duplicate the story summary, and then link to the PCWorld article.
--Brandon / Split Infinity Music
But doesn't Google reliable obey Robots.txt ?
Seems like a DotBomb business plan....
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
Theres gotta be a joke in there somewhere..
"In Soviet Russia, SOAP cleans your computer!"
No wait.
"I for one welcome our freshly-washed overlords!"
Crap, that doesn't really work, either.
"Let's pour hot SOAP down Natalie Portman's pants!"
Hmm. I wouldn't mind doing that, but it's not particularly funny.
"Netcraft confirms it, SOAP can eliminate viruses!"
"Hey, Goatse man, did you lose this?"
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Big Deal, I have figured out how to use Google to eliminate my need to excrete bodily solids or fluids.
I don't really see how this can be made to exploit code. Its a search for binary within a file. Within a file being the important phrase. I mean it could be code to hijack your computer but it won't run unless you download it. And I doubt mom and pop are using google search inside binary files ever. Hell I never heard of it before today. Those that use it probably are a bit OCD about protecting their computers.
google will be able to scan your bedroom and tell you if your enviornment will cause you cancer or not :P
"In the kingdom where everything dies, the sky is mortal."
Looking at the summary I thought to myself: "Hmmm....you can tell google to use plain old binary search? And...what makes the binary search algorithm so usefull for finding websites hosting malware?"
Would there be a way to avoid repeat Slashdot articles using Google?
(Bonus points -- without using Google)
Stephan
http://stephan.sugarmotor.org
Actually, a question:
Editors: Do you read Slashdot?
Sure, its flamebait, but this is a joke sometimes.
This is good news. The real gem that nobody seems to have commented on is google's bots which allow them to list the contents of a site automagically. I presume they have tacked Webenese onto them and watched the stats.
...
It could be a real boon once it translates into search warnings. But I can see some nasty trouble ahead with False Negatives and False Positives once everybody making spyware/malware/adware/viruses/worms starts reacting to this new threat to their existence. If google decided my clever line of flash was an executable
Thank goodness none of this really matters when you browse under linux.
I agree. I think we need to introduce more orthogonal terminology.
A database of sites comprimised, using this binary Google scanner, to keep an accurate up-to-date record. Plug that record into a Firefox plugin, that will show if the website has been compromised in any way.
(My apologies if this doesn't make much sense, I just had wisdom teeth dug out of my skull, and I'm on lortabs.)
Windows has detected an undetectable error.
My wife likes to tell people that her first job title was "computer". That was back around 1970, when she got a job at a New York state surveyor's office. Her job was to do calculations required in surveying. She used several gadgets to assist in most of the calculations, of course, and those gadgets were called "calculators". Then for inexplicable reasons her job title got applied to some of the fancier calculators, so they had to change the job title to avoid the obvious confusion.
The defiition of "computer" is a bit odd. Technically it's defined as a device that stores its software in the same memory as its data. The definition doesn't actually require that it "compute" anything, though of course if it doesn't, its software is a bit pointless. But this sort of definition came about because the first programmable computing devices used different kinds of hardware to store data and programs. The idea of storing programs in writable memory was a major technical advance back in the 1940s, making it possible to write programs that manipulated other programs. This turned out to be such an important innovation that the resulting "stored-program calculators" were treated as an entirely new kind of beast, sufficiently different that a new name was needed for them.
There was a book on the topic published recently, called "When Computers Were Women".
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
"Could this binary search feature also be used to exploit Google and trick users into downloading malware?"
OK, who disabled my CbN filter?
'Could an empty coke can can be used to exploit hungry bears and trick them into drinking week old urine?'
And please stop telling the idiot that it is ok to look, act, talk and otherwise communicate like an idiot in public...
There was a book on the topic published recently, called "When Computers Were Women".
For most of us, they still are.
Actually, the definition of "computer" is a bit more complicated than that. Your definition is certainly descriptive of its modern use (especially if by "technically" you mean "in terms of modern technology"), but the word's history reveals something more.
Like most English words, it has Latin origins: computo/computare. Broken down, this basically translates to "calculate/reckon/sum".
To save all this confusion, I propose we use the word "bitswitcher". As in, "I need to upgrade my Personal Bitswitcher."
They're similar to the .com files on one of your operating systems, only newer
The language of my ancestors is "Webinese", you insensitive clod!
Just google for it!
I propose we use the word "bitswitcher".
;-)
I'd suggest something like "bitmuncher".
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I've seen several spam/phishing emails recently where the URL went through Google - looked like some obscure result set with an IP address in the middle (obviously the payload's home address). Doesn't that make Google kinda sue-able and party to their crime...? Oh shit, Google's stock cratered a mere 8 seconds after I hit [Ok] on this posting.
Only if you use a striped array.
nice one thanks :)
http://www.secgeeks.com/