{"id":583,"date":"2008-09-05T10:52:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-05T14:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/malware-attack-warning-in-firefox-by-google\/"},"modified":"2012-09-20T02:30:28","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T06:30:28","slug":"malware-attack-warning-in-firefox-by-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/malware-attack-warning-in-firefox-by-google\/","title":{"rendered":"Malware attack warning in firefox by Google"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Firefox uses Google’s malware filter to block sites having potential malware. A webmasterworld member has reported seeing this. He seem to notice it only now though this has been there for a long time,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

he says,<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“G have long been warning in their serp that a site may harm your computer, but this is new to me…
My platform is Mac, FF, with Addons; NoScript, MacAfee SiteAdvisor, and AdBlock Plus.
I was NOT using any Google site or feature, but tried to visit two sites I regularly go to +from a bookmarks page on my desktop+.
The first was a Formula One news site, the other a cycling enthusiast site, nothing dodgy at either usually.
However, a semi-opaque interstitial warning page covered my browser view warning me that the site I’m trying to visit may harm my computer, and according to my setting I am being warned, proceed or not?
Instead of visiting, I clicked on the “More info” link and was taken to a Google url (sorry I didn’t save the url) with data on the site’s malware problem, and last 90 days scanning results. It seems they had some harmful script inserted in their ads by a third party.
I removed those sites from my bookmarks page.
What concerns me, is that later I realized that I hadn’t used any Google feature to visit those sites, so how did G know I was going to them?
I didn’t go through G search, or a G bookmark. I went through a simple homemade bookmarks page on my desktop.
I have a Google account that I remain logged into most of the time. I use it for sitemaps, and the Google removal tool, G alerts, and of course G search.
However when I looked in my G account settings for anything remotely like, “Warn me if I ever try to visit a dodgy site”, and there’s nothing there remotely like that. I use the default “moderate” setting to stop filth showing in the serp.
So, how come G popped the interstitial, when I wasn’t using any G site feature I’m aware of? Too spooky.
All I can guess is that McAfee are collaborating with G on the Site Advisor feature, and extending it’s reach beyond the G serp? Or perhaps it is the NoScript addon people who G are collaborating with?
Normally when the McAfee addon warns you about a dodgy site it will point you to an info page on the McAfee domain, not the Google domain.
Anyone else seen this recently? Was it a test run, a slip-up, or old news?
Interestingly, I visited the same F1 site today using the same method, and got no warning interstitial, nor did the G serp listing of this site have any warning note. “<\/em><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

webmasterworld.com\/google\/3736923.htm <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Firefox uses Google’s malware filter to block sites having potential malware. A webmasterworld member has reported seeing this. He seem to notice it only now though this has been there for a long time, he says, “G have long been warning in their serp that a site may harm your computer, but this is new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-search-engines","category-spam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1219,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions\/1219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}