Google Search Went Down

 

//Wooooaa, what’s happening on the world wide web? Its 19:37 (GMT+4), a friend of mine just phoned me as he was having some problems with his new set of speakers. As usual, the easiest way to find a solution for him, was to google the problem. Guess what? Anything I searched on Google, the warning message “This Site May Harm Your Computer” appears underneath each of the results.                       

   

If you click the title of the result, you’ll be shown the following warning:

 

At first I thought that the problem was on my computer (maybe a virus or spyware), I logged onto my second PC, googled again, same problem. Even if I search for the word “Google”, I got the same message. Damn, Google went down, Google’s Search was completely unusable. 

 There are many possible explanations: Either Google went down or every server on the Internet becoming infected (lol… can’t be). Maybe Google servers were hacked (lol… why not) but one thing is sure, the problem is from Google side. Seems to be a major Google bug. Hope everything will be solved soon. 

 

Update Saturday 31 January @ 20:11 (GMT+4):

Just Google It! …Google Seems to be coming back to normal.  What happened to cause these false warnings? I will answer to it as soon as Google gives an explantion :).

Update Saturday 01 February @ 7:30 (GMT+4):

It was simply an error, human error. Here is the official explanation from Google (Marissa Mayer).

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Koobface Virus Attacks Facebook

 

// Destructive Koobface virus turns up on Facebook. It is the latest attack by hackers, increasingly looking to prey on users of social networking sites. A variant of the Koobface virus was reportedly circulating on MySpace earlier this year but was eliminated after new security measures were put in place. A “very small percentage of users” had been affected by the virus said Barry Schnitt a spokesman from Facebook. But according to some other security experts, the virus is on rise. The virus can spread fast because they travel through messages which appear to come from your friends. The virus spreads by sending messages to Facebook friends with subject headers such as “Look you were filmed all naked!” or “You look just awesome in this movie”. Here’s an example: 

Infection

If the reader clicks on the supplied link, they are directed to another Web site to supposedly watch the clip. After clicking to visit the site, users are shown a message that tells them they need an updated Adobe Systems Flash player. But downloading the software infects the victim’s computer with the virus. Koobface uses the social network’s messaging system to infect PCs, then tries to gather sensitive information such as credit-card numbers or their searches on Google, Yahoo and MSN diverted to fraudulent Web sites.

Removal

Facebook has posted limited instructions on removing the virus on its security page. It suggests resetting your password and running updated anti-virus software to purge the worm from your system. I would advice Facebook users to never opens unexpected e-mail attachments or to click on suspicious links, even if they come from people you trust.

Secure Your Password

// A way to choose secure, strong and “unmemorable” passwords. I have just discovered this great application “Password Chart“. This web-based app allows you to enter a phrase and the application automatically generates values according the alphabet in the entered phrase.

I try this app with the motto of this blog “I just wish my mouth had a backspace key”,  with the password “mypassword” and here is the ouput “ewFArNkwwfnVkfCyt”. The new password is much less crackable.

The advantage of this application is that it can works anywhere on any computer and you can even store or print the chart for later use. Now, no more pain to remember strong passwords. Here’s the link Password Chart.