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Google Blacklists Deals Direct Website for Delivering Malware

On March 19, 2010, Google blacklisted DealsDirect.com.au, the biggest Internet bargain shopping website hosted in Australia. Other leading Web browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox also banned it.

The blacklisting was done when hackers reportedly hijacked intermediary software which provided advertisements on DealsDirect. As a result of that, the software started delivering malicious content to computers that accessed the site.

Besides, Spokeswoman Elisha Booth of DealsDirect confirmed what Google did against DealsDirect.com.au. But, to calm regular visitors of the site, she said that it was common to have such kinds of incidents, as reported by Heraldsun.com.au on March 19, 2010.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman of Google Australia stated that the search engine (Google) use scanners which constantly and automatically searched web-pages that were compromised and used to serve malware. The scanners make unprejudiced decisions on the basis of malicious contents of those Web pages, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald on March 19, 2010.

Moreover, with customers finding it inconvenient due to the malicious event, Paul Greenberg, Co-founder and Chief Executive of DealsDirect.com.au, stated that he was thinking about making alterations to a few of the advertising structures of the firm, as reported by smartcompany.com.au reported this on March 19, 2010.

Greenberg added that DealsDirect was jointly working with Google towards making sure that DealsDirect.com.au was fixed and could be properly accessed. They were also trying to clean the site off the malware, he added.

Meanwhile, it's common for hackers to exploit intermediary software vulnerabilities for installing malware on popular and trustworthy websites. The reason is that the visitors normally don't consider legitimate sites with the sense of suspicion. Consequently, hackers find it extremely easy to hijack these sites and also users' computers eventually, security researchers explain.

Nevertheless, according to these researchers, once a website is blacklisted by Google, it may find it almost unfeasible to restore its lost name. This'll be especially with websites such as DealsDirect, which is in every respect reliant on the Internet for its business.

Hence, it's advisable that when websites post ads like in the case of DealsDirect, they must hunt for possible vulnerabilities and then quickly fix them with patches. Also, while placing advertisements, it is a must for the websites to be as ethical as possible.

Related article: Google Rectifies Gmail flaw in Three Days

» SPAMfighter News - 3/29/2010

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