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Google Blogger "Hosts 2% of World's Malware"
Barence writes "Google's Blogger service is responsible for 2% of the world's malware hosted on the Web, according to a new report from security firm Sophos. The company claims hackers are setting up pages on the free blogging service to host malicious code, or simply posting links to infected websites in other bloggers' comments. 'Blogger accounts for around 2% of malware,' according to Sophos's senior technology consultant, Graham Cluley. 'It's head and shoulders above the rest [of the blogging services].'" Sophos believes that Blogger is favored because, being part of Google, it gets spidered early and often.
That's a gigantic amount of user data.
Even malware bot writers are users that might buy something....
When I installed Linux it asked me for my credit card number. Two days later I got a call from Wachovia asking me if I had purchased $400 worth of Totino's pizza rolls and Mountain Dew (I hadn't). Let this be a warning to all of you out there in the Internet.
Perhaps a good reason why blogging should be illegal.
I call FARK. Two percent is not newsworthy. You need at least 5% to impress me.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Come on, Google bloggers, that's less than Apple's marketshare! Surely we can do better than that!! Let's get to work!!
You're assuming its just the Malware's eyes they're after. Perhaps a study of the spread of Malware through Google would tell us something about their culture? Their will of course be somewhat disconnected clouds of competing bot swarms. Perhaps studying the shape of these clouds and how they choose to connect might help us combat their effectiveness?
I host the other 98% on voggers.com ;)
Meanwhile...
...what?
Cut to Steve Ballmer screaming at some programmers.
Ballmer: Two percent?
Programmer: Sir, we..
Ballmer: Two percent?! I told you twenty!
Programmer: We're trying. It's just...
Ballmer: Just what?
Programmer: There's so much other malware coming out, that it throws our percentages off.
Ballmer: Then hire them!
Programmer: Who? The malware authors?
Ballmer: Do you have a problem with that?
Programmer: I don't think it's ethical.
Ballmer: Tony Stark built this in a cave! With a bunch of scraps!
Programmer:
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
Malware, let's see, that's one of those features of Windows, right? Maybe it's about time Google warned all its users about the dangers of surfing the net with a vulnerable browser/OS combination. What's Microsoft going to do, sue? Truth is a defense against defamation claims.
Part of it is probably google's good name that is attractive to malware hosts. As google "does no evil", people trust them. How could malware end up on a site hosted by a service that does no evil?
people think:
google = good
malware = evil
malware != google
profit for malware distributors!
"Don't be evil. Just host it."
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Isn't it the predominant conduit between the infected pages and the users? And ask people to upgrade to a secure browser with a links to Firefox, Opera and safari.
of the money I just inherited from this kind Nigerian Prince!
Blogger is popular for spam redirects, because it's possible to turn a Blogger page into a redirect. Typical example: "Looking for a R0lex repl1ca? ... Where? At http://www.mitch83393.blogspot.com/" (Google already got this one as a TOS violation, but they're throwaway blogs generated by programs. There will be a new one in a few minutes.) Spammers do this to get their message through filters that check for spam links.
This is a generic problem with Google's free services. Spammers and scammers now use GMail to get throwaway mail accounts, Blogger for an open redirector, YouTube to host advertising videos, AdWords to advertise scams, and Google Checkout to collect the money. It's full-service evil.
For the last two, Google has a business relationship, but doesn't seem to be validating their customers well enough. The use of Google Checkout for spam and attack tools is especially disturbing. Try, for example, searching for "craiglist posting". Note the ads with Google Checkout links. There, Google is an active participant in collecting the money and is profiting from the transaction.
The other 98% comes from here
If you're subscribed to Google Alerts, and they post a malware-hosting blogger site with material you're watching for, it comes straight into your inbox. I've had this happen to me with spam copied from one of my own wikis. They seriously need to clamp down on the ability to redirect people automatically from Blogger.
Most of the time the scam mail I get has a yahoo email attached.
There are no innocents among free web service providers.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
Podcast at 11.
$10 USD says 75% is hosted by microsoft, and the rest is hosted by people trying to sell v1agra.
Epic. Just epic.
If Blogger is so full of malware or links to malware, why don't all the search results pointing to Blogger get the same warning and lack of link?
PC Pro's crack writers say:
(Emphasis mine.) Journalism at its finest!
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
I'm curious to what the 2% number means when market share and region figures are factored in. I'll bet it doesn't mean much.
Newsflash! 2% of the Internet is where 2% of the hackers are!
Thank you for coming to my blog. I'm a Nigerian prince, and I'm seeking help freeing my millions of dollars from a frozen account. With all your help, I can slowly free my fortune, and give you a pretty fair share, tax free of course. See my latest post for the progress we've made! We're almost to my goal of freeing one millions dollars! Also my cat just turned 2 today, see my pictures for the awesome birthday party pics.
What are these "ads" you talk about? I can see nothing but search results in thar page.
(hugs CustomizeGoogle)
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
Thats a poor argument. Take canada vs. usa - the climate is the same, most of the laws are similar... but gun control laws are drastically different, and canada has better social services.
... but canada also has a much MUCH lower incidence of gun-related crime.
do we blame the lack of social services in the states for the gun crime? Or perhaps the availability of the guns?
On a serious note, I hope Google gets a handle on this situation before my blogspot blog becomes an innocent bystander on blacklists.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Thank goodness icanhascheezburger runs on WordPress.
Airplane Photos, Airline News, Planespotting Guides
I love how the parent gets modded redundant :)
Microsoft isn't set to invent blogging until 2011, after including it as a LiveCloud application in Windows 7. By 3Q2011 you are all expected to offer some awed respect to the brilliant innovation of user generated content (patent pending). Guidance is the same for all of their products: stay away from version 1, even numbered and prime numbered versions, and every version before the first service pack.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
When asked about their malware, Google is reported to have said "But, it's only the best malware."
Then the dormouse fell asleep in the open source coding pot.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Canada also has much lower immigration. You must either have a job that is in great demand, post-graduate education, or able to put down 400k to start a business. Meanwhile here in AZ we have so many people illegally crossing the border that we had to pass laws that make employers verify citizenship before they can be given job, or they lose their business license.
I started a blog three months ago on Blogger and two days after my blog was created, Blogger's spam detecting software marked my benign text only blog as a "spam blog" and locked me out for a week after promising to restore access in 4 days if I responded to their email.
After 4 days, I went with Wordpress and Bluehost (needed other services like gallery as well). Blogger was promising when it first came out but Google doesn't work enough on Blogger (being free and all). Also the "Flag" feature exists so you can flag blogs for offensive/spam content but I am not sure if that makes a difference.
I commend Google for providing Blogger free of charge (although this is from Google buying Pyra more than 5 years ago) and allowing people to make money from Adsense but the feature set leaves a lot to be desired. To be fair, they have introduced a few features in the last 2-3 months but I love Wordpress now.
Looks like you're trying to bash Microsoft!
Would you like me to:
o Show you how to use dollar signs to be cool
o Help you come up with a dumb conspiracy
theory that involves Steve Ballmer and
farm animals
o Play "Give Us the Source" by RMS while
you crapflood Slashdot
o Recompile the kernel again
_____
/ \
|- -|
0 0
| | |
| | |
| | |
| \___/
\______/
Take canada vs. usa - the climate is the same
Are you NUTS? Yes the climate in the border area of North Dakota is the same as the border area of Manitoba... however if you want to compare Florida's climate to Yellowknife's, I wish you luck.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
In order to determine that it is 2% means that they would have to know exactly how much is out there in the first place - how would they know that?
http://projectleader.wordpress.com
... but canada also has a much MUCH lower incidence of gun-related crime.
do we blame the lack of social services in the states for the gun crime? Or perhaps the availability of the guns?
Neither. It's Clinton's fault.
Well there goes the neighborhood!
the chair throw should be the original post, its how ballmer starts every meeting!
oh wait, you're right... also, lets compare Juneau (alaska) to Victoria (Vancouver)... oh I guess you're not THAT right.
Even if you can show that Linux computers account for a disproportionately small amount of malware, that doesn't necessarily show that Linux is more secure (not that I think it isn't).
Linux computers are mostly run by technically-minded people, who probably take better security measures anyway. Not to mention that Linux is a a smaller target for malware.
Do you hate twitter? Do you loath Slashdot? Are you a total fuckwad? Then join the Twitter Negation Association of America (TNAA) and help ruin Slashdot. How does it work? Easy:
The point is to increase noise to signal ratios. Join today!
Brought to you by the MSFT.
It's only relevant and targeted malware.
Victoria (British Columbia)
Fixed
I'm so excited I just made water in my pantaloons!
...and it was named as googlestubinst.exe !! Symantec Corp stopped it though.
LOL keep WiNdOwS at home where it is safe.
Because Blogger shows by default ALL entries ever published within a blog in one page, by merely surfing the web you can accidentally enter in the orbit of a mammoth blog (+5Mb frontpage), that not only takes ages to load, but also freezes firefox (and the rest of the computer) until it has finished loading the page. Damn you Blogger!!!
So... how's this whole thing working out for you?
The "host" is Windows 99.9 percent of the time.
Google blogger is a carrier 2% of the time.
I imagine infected Windows hosts are the source of viruses > 50% of the time.
$2 billion notes, like in Zimbabwe... with 2.2 billion percent per month inflation .... enough to buy a couple of bus rides...
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/01/zimbabwe.inflation.ap/index.html
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2RPSaqbbqphRrvYYIaUsAV27LZwD91VM5O00
But, the REAL $64 BILLION question: How much malware is on MSN? Why worry about Google if it's only got 2% of the malware???
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
> and serve ads to it
What kind of ads go well with malware?
* Best deals on 'getting pwn3d' [ebay.com]
* Credit carding kits from $100 [phish.com]
* Discover the Windows Genuine Advantage! [microsoft.com]
* Enlarge your membership today! [blackseo.com]
I'd like to see what percentage of infections were facilitated through MySpace, but that would require omniscience just as this figure does.
Yes, those mean Canadians not helping the poor, oppressed and disadvantaged Mexicans. Here in the US we welcome those poor, oppressed and disadvantaged folks with open arms. As you can tell from the way laws are enforced.
Of course, we are all in danger of becoming equally poor, oppressed and disadvantaged by allowing anyone and everyone to come here.
.
Microsoft is responsible for nearly 100% of the malware targets.
The root problem is the producers of malware, not the conduits that are used.
Google Blogger "Hosts 2% of World's Malware" That guy surely is one sly dog
Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
Blogger is a real christian - gives bread and house for all people, kind and evil...
Pics plz.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
As you can tell from the way laws are not enforced.
There, fixed it for you.
Part of the problem is that laws have *not* been enforced. If they had been, and if we had more sensible visa policies in the US (allowing more legal seasonal workers), then illegal immigration wouldn't be the problem it is.
Twitter hosts 100% of Slashdot's malware.
--
You can be twitter too!
Yes, take a single state with a population of around 600k and call it "The USA".
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Agreed. After all, it made world-wide news after he 'shot' a woman in the face, and mostly got away with it except for temporarily losing his law license.