Google Wants You to Report Malware

darthcamaro writes "As part of its ongoing effort to keep a clean index Google is soliciting the help of web browsers to let them know when we find malware in the index. Celebrated Google hacker Johnny Long thinks it's a good idea, though he told the site Internet News that he doesn't think it'll stop real hackers. From the article: 'Most in search of malware for offensive use know the good stuff — it ain't distributed through public Web ... It's distributed through dark Web servers, peer-to-peer networks, IRC channels, torrents and the like. Google's efforts will not affect how skilled hackers get access to malware.'"

Comments

"will not affect how skilled hackers get access.."

[cynicsreport]

Obviously, by definition, skilled hackers can get the tools they need without google's help (or despite google's measures).
I think this is a great move by Google anyway. The hackers I find annoying are the 'script kiddies'; these kids (or immature adults) can too easily find programs that waste my bandwidth, hitting my server to find obvious holes, looking for very outdated software; in general, banging their heads against my firewall. If a 'real' hacker wants to waste his time, he could probably find some exploits even for updated and patched server software. But I know there are bigger fish to fry (ie banks, microsoft, cnn, etc).
While I do keep my software patched and updated, not everyone does. So, some kid can easily search google for a program to take advantage, without even knowing what he's doing. It's too easy; it's giving him the tools on a silver platter.

Re:Not affect how skilled hackers get malware

[wizardforce]

it isn't the noobs that worry me, it's when people like you think that malware only affects the noobs and not the servers they will later attack. storm botnet ring a bell? preventing the noobs from inadvertantly joining spam botnets is in our best interests.

don't stop with just malware

[Adult film producer]

let users flag all of those websites that only have indexes of other websites, link farms or whatever they're call... and please let me flag those "ask the expert" pages as spam.

Re:Not affect how skilled hackers get malware

[maxume]

You are being oddly pedantic; Google returns search results in what is essentially an arbitrary order; changing that order based on the presence of malware isn't filtering, at least not anymore than the initial search result is filtering.

And really, if you don't think that being able to advertise that their searches are 'safe' has the potential to effect revenue, I don't know where to start.

Dear Google,

[iminplaya]

Sony, the RIAA, the MPAA, the FBI, the CIA, the NSA all produce malware. Please block access to their sites.

Re:Not affect how skilled hackers get malware

[maxume]

Google already selectively decides what it wants to let through. They call it 'Pagerank'. I've heard dirty rumors that different people get different results for the same search, and that sometimes, the number of results printed on the result page doesn't match up with the actual number of results available. Also, I've heard that they have removed stuff based on DMCA takedown notices.

If you have a problem with Google doing this, you have a problem with what Google was doing yesterday.

Re:Not affect how skilled hackers get malware

[darkpixel2k]

As a public company they can drop any search results they disagree with...

I could give a shit about the windows malware that's out there. I don't run Windows and a good portion of my client base either doesn't run windows or doesn't have access to the net. But what I really wish google would fucking drop from their index is experts-exchange and tech-republic.

The last damn thing I want any of my search results to return is "Hey--here's the answer you're looking for. The solution is to...[PAY US FOR A FUCKING SUBSCRIPTION PLEASE]"

Re:Not affect how skilled hackers get malware

[techno-vampire]

Yes, we're being asked to help protect noobs who don't know any better. It's just the same as protecting children who haven't learned better, or do you object to that too?