2009-02-01
Abstract
Search engine giant apologises for temporarily labelling every site a danger.
Copyright © 2009 Virus Bulletin
Google has apologised for a brief period during which the search engine labelled every site on the Internet as potentially dangerous. Under normal circumstances the message ‘This site may harm your computer’ appears next to Google search results if a site is known to be malicious – a blacklist providing the relevant information. However, on 31 January, for an approximately 40-minute period, all search results appeared with the warning.
According to Google the error occurred in the manual updating of the blacklist when the URL ‘/’ was accidentally added to the file. The error was discovered quickly and the file was rolled back. The search engine’s staggered system of updates meant that the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. PST and began disappearing between 7:10 a.m. and 7:25 a.m. PST, thus the problem lasted no longer than approximately 40 minutes for any particular user.
A statement from Google’s VP, Search Products & User Experience assured users that the incident would be investigated carefully and that robust file checks would be put in place to prevent it from happening again.
