If you are looking for information on Google saying that 20,000 websites could be at risk for JavaScript malware, maybe this will help you.

Websites were warned that configuration files could be at risk. They think that JavaScript has been put into sites by a third party and that it can be used to redirect users to harmful sites. Google said that the websites should remove the malware and secure it to protect site visitors. They should make security a priority. Webmasters were urged to keep their software to date for safety and to contact their Web hosts for any technical support they may need. Google has warned website owners other times besides today to look for malware infections. It is part of their mission to do their bit to help with spam prevention. They communicate openly with webmasters to help with this. Last July Google didn’t let more than 11 million URLs from the “co.cc” domain come into being on their site because they were used by cybercriminals to conduct drive by attacks and spread antivirus programs. Google explained in a blog at the time that some companies could host more than 50,000 malware domains and that it could flag bulk domains in the worst cases.

Java accounts have more windows infections than any other account. It tops all other infection vectors year after year. Oracle has shown that it is incapable of keeping the Java Environment secure. If the company that you work for makes Java apps, it is time to stop. If your clients have Java, you should give them the support and the tools they need to block Java.

To protect your computer you can use two different browsers, one with Java enabled and the other without and only have the Java-jinxed browser when necessary. The other thing you can do is uninstall or disable Java in the browser you use and put it back on only when you have no other options.

The bottom line is, if you think that your website or computer can be harmed by malware, look into it and see what you can do to get rid of the problem.

Google · Malware · Websites

Last year Google Chrome sidestepped the safety checks and proved their reliability and security was in full force, but it appears this year at the Pwn2Own hacking competition, Google Chrome’s IE was not as safe as initially thought. Held at the CanSecWest security conference, Pwn2Own is an annual competition with an aim to test the most specific software of today. Vupen was the name of this year’s French hackers, who planned for six weeks to make their way into Firefox and test Google Chrome’s security to the maximum.

The hacking took place on a 64-bit Windows 7 machine with full reliability and updates put into place. Although this test for Google Chrome’s safety has come as quite a shock for Firefox and IE users, the year 2011 saw a video release for what was said to be another hack, through the use of flash. Despite this, Google Chrome security bosses stated that this was not a hack, due to the third-party code being utilized.

Thorough details were not divulged relating to the safety of Google Chrome failing at the 2012 Pwn2Own competition, but it was said that two vulnerabilities were focused on. These vulnerabilities were to bypass ASLR and DEP on a Windows computer with IE and Firefox, with the other being to target the Chrome sandbox. With Google growing in leaps and bounds over the past few years, Vupen felt it necessary to prove that the safety, security and reliability of Google Chrome were not untouchable.

Chrome is said to be an IE browser with the highest level of security today. Aside from the fact that Vuper have shamed Google in their efforts to make Chrome unbreakable, it has helped to detect some of the loopholes that need attention for the security levels to advance. The triumphant Chrome hacks left the Pwn2Own competition with smiles on their faces and $1 million richer; due to the fact they have drawn attention to and propelled improvements for the IE. These improvements for Google Chrome will be to eliminate bugs, study safety and protect users with a search tool that oozes reliability.

chrome · firefox · IE · opera · safety · security

In a world where more and more people are spending their time online, some of the biggest tech companies in the world are taking interesting new steps in order to make sure they are providing security.  For decades, banks and other financial institutions have been hiring “security experts” who are usually retired thieves to break into their establishments and report back on any weaknesses they find.  By hiring the very people who have a vested interest in finding security weaknesses, these firms knew they were going to be getting a thorough reporting.  Facebook has been one company that has taken this theory into the digital age and now it appears that Google is making news by hiring hackers to check out its flagship browser the Google Chrome.

Google has actually been hiring hackers for a while now in order to find and report different flaws in their browser and earlier this year the company had handed out more than $47,000 in checks to several different “researchers” who reported important flaws and security holes.  Most of these researchers were people who were able to work over a long period of time with Google and find flaws that really were dragging Google Chrome down.  While that nearly $50,000 payout might seem like a tidy sum, the company has also managed to take their payout to a whole new level with Google’s latest Chrome-focused bug bounty contest which hits $1 million.

The company offered up this huge bounty at the CanSecWest conference.  This particular get together is a massive hacker convention that has companies from all over the world participating in these kinds of contests that are geared towards people finding massive security flaws for big money.  Of course, it would appear that in order to win such a huge bounty payout, a hacker or “researcher” would have to find something that would be extremely harmful to the company’s browser. Finding something wrong with the programming for the background color is not going to net people that kind of money.  Google is betting, laying out that money, that there are not any flaws big enough to merit the payout.

big money · Google

Facebook, Google 1+, Twitter and other social networking sites have had a major impact on web hosting. While in times past it was enough to have a website, most companies now have accounts on all the social network sites mentioned above, along with a blog and YouTube account. Anyone who wants to create an online retail site or profitable blog or website will need to take advantage of social media and all that it has to offer.

Facebook

Facebook has hundreds of millions of users. A business that wants to engage with potential clients in a friendly manner should open up a business (not personal) Facebook page. This page can be used for advertising special offers and discounts. It also allows a business owner to have friendly conversations with clients and potential buyers.

Google 1 +

Google’s new site may not be as popular as Facebook, but it already has tens of millions of users. Google has also promised that Google + sites will get good search engine ratings. This means that a business that wants to get higher search engine ratings for its website or blog should create a Google + account.

Twitter

Twitter is one of the most popular forms of social media. Many people turn to Twitter to find out the latest news and a business will want to target such individuals by creating a Twitter account to go with the business website. There are many Twitter applications that can be used in conjunction with this form of social media, in order to help one space out tweets, keep track of tweets, follow and unfollow people and more.

YouTube

YouTube is yet another very important form of social media. It is owned by Google and so Google gives relevant YouTube videos good search engine ratings. No matter what type of website or blog one has, he or she can make one or more videos relating to the site and then post these on YouTube with a link back to the site.

Anyone who wants to have a successful website should consider these forms of social media indispensable. Web hosting without social networking sites is simply not successful as it once was. In order for a website to gain a lot of traffic, it should have social network sites that help to back it up.

Digital Marketing · Facebook · Google · Social Media · Twitter

Google recently unveiled the launch of an extension that allows the user to block specific websites which may not be related to the search results or website in which the searcher has no specific interest. The extension known as personal blacklist is a Google chrome extension which is designed to make the users search experience more personalized.

This move is one of many in Google’s efforts to improve the Internet searchers’ search experience to help the company stay ahead of the competition. Google hopes that the extension will be extensively used by searchers around the world.

So how does the extension work and how does it improve the Web search experience? Well to start with the user needs to install the block list extension which only works with Google chrome. Once the add-on is installed the searcher simply enters a query into Google as they would normally to get a list of results. The difference in the results this time it is that beneath each result there is a link that is shown to allow the user to “block this domain”. So if you are searching on Google and you notice irrelevant results showing up for your query, or you see websites that you don’t want to see again for the same query in the future, simply click the “block this domain” link and those sites will not be featured in the results. The user also has the option to unblock previously blocked websites by simply clicking the unblock link that is shown at the top right corner of the browser.

Now the introduction of this extension is a fairly interesting idea from the search engine giant, especially for the search engine marketers out there. And why would that be? Well some marketers are already speculating that Google may start using block lists data to influence search engine rankings of websites. So in other words there is the potential for Google to fine tune its algorithm further to analyze blocked websites and possibly give those that are blocked less weighting for the search results. Now this is just speculation but the thought of something like this materializing will worry marketers who use automated tools to “artificially” rank websites higher up in the search results.

Whether you are a web hosting company or a local furniture supplier this is definitely an interesting development everybody will be keeping an eye on to see what happens with this feature in the coming future.

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