Problems with Google Highlights

Google is a giant in the tech industry and wears several different hats, from its bread-and-butter operation as the number-one search engine to its breakout entrance into the social-networking scene with Google+. However, many people do not realize that Google is also one of the world's largest and most advanced providers of anti-virus software. Anti-virus detection is built right in to certain browsers using Google's data. Google scans every website and uses several sophisticated methods to tell if a site is malicious. It displays about 3 million warnings that a website is corrupt to more than 400 million users each and every day.

Google Highlights Problems In Detecting Malicious Websites

With this information in consideration, it makes sense that Google is highly informed when it comes to detecting malware. Recently, the company conducted a massive study of anti-virus detection methods and efficacy and concluded that it's becoming increasingly difficult to detect menacing websites. Google highlights also the fact that anti-virus software is not fully effective in real time. Google's teams of engineers analyzed four years worth of data from its Safe Browsing Service. The Safe Browsing Service is an API or application programming interface that funnels data about websites into Google Chrome and Firefox browsers, warning users of unsafe sites. There were more than 8 million websites and 160 million webpages included in the study from the Safe Browsing Service.

In the conclusion of the study, Google highlights that it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the hackers who create these malicious sites in real time. One Google security team member blogs that "Like other service providers, we are engaged in an arms race with malware distributors." In other words, the hackers seem to be one step ahead with the virus fighters.

Google highlights that hackers are developing ways to circumnavigate the methods it uses to determine whether a site is malicious. For instance, many malicious sites now implement what's called IP cloaking tactics. This is when rogue websites will refuse to deliver corrupt content or data to certain ranges of IP addresses – mainly those known to be associated with security researchers. In 2009, Google determined that more than 200,000 malicious sites used IP cloaking to avoid security researchers, and that number has surely grown since then.

Google Highlights Anti-virus Software Ineffective in Real Time

Google highlights also that anti-virus software is ineffective at detecting viruses in real time. Google believes that anti-virus software manufacturers mainly react to the viruses that have already been unleashed into the wild. In essence, the hackers set the stage for the next iterations of security software. Google highlights further that anti-virus software is easily fooled by highly compressed or packed viral code that was unrecognizable to the software but was still able to execute and install on most computer systems.

While Google highlights that anti-virus software is not very effective at fighting viruses in real time, it's important to remember that anti-virus software is still the best defense against hackers. Although the software may not be able to stop brand-new viruses freshly unleashed into the wild of the internet, it can stop nearly 100 percent of already known threats. These known threats account for the vast majority of viruses crawling the internet, and protection from them is crucial.

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Resources:
"Google Highlights Trouble in Detecting Web Based Malware"
Computer World, August 2011
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9219290/Google_highlights_trouble_in_detecting_web_based_malware