The Rise of Fake Anti-Virus

Posted by Niels Provos, Security Team
For years, we have detected malicious content on the web and helped protect users from it. Vulnerabilities in web browsers and popular plugins have resulted in an increased number of users whose systems can be compromised by attacks known as drive-by downloads. Such attacks do not require any user interaction, and they allow the adversary to execute code on a user’s computer without their knowledge. However, even without any vulnerabilities present, clever social engineering attacks can cause an unsuspecting user to unwittingly install malicious code supplied by an attacker on their computer.

One increasingly prevalent threat is the spread of Fake Anti-Virus (Fake AV) products. This malicious software takes advantage of users’ fear that their computer is vulnerable, as well as their desire to take the proper corrective action. Visiting a malicious or compromised web site — or sometimes even viewing a malicious ad — can produce a screen looking something like the following:


At Google, we have been working to help protect users against Fake AV threats on the web since we first discovered them in March 2007. In addition to protections like adding warnings to browsers and search results, we’re also actively engaged in malware research. We conducted an in-depth analysis of the prevalence of Fake AV over the course of the last 13 months, and the research paper containing our findings, “The Nocebo Effect on the Web: An Analysis of Fake AV distribution” is going to be presented at the Workshop on Large-Scale Exploits and Emergent Threats (LEET) in San Jose, CA on April 27th. While we do not want to spoil any surprises, here are a few previews. Our analysis of 240 million web pages over the 13 months of our study uncovered over 11,000 domains involved in Fake AV distribution — or, roughly 15% of the malware domains we detected on the web during that period.

Also, over the last year, the lifespan of domains distributing Fake AV attacks has decreased significantly:


In the meantime, we recommend only running antivirus and antispyware products from trusted companies. Be sure to use the latest versions of this software, and if the scan detects any suspicious programs or applications, remove them immediately.

Download Death at a Funeral torrent

Download Death at a Funeral torrent ( Coming soon)

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Download Date Night torrent ( Coming soon)

Download Kick-Ass torrent

Download Kick-Ass torrent ( Coming soon)

Enjoy some quiet time with Do Not Disturb

Google Voice makes it easier for people to reach you by only having to call one number that rings all your phones. But sometimes you don’t want to be reached -- like if you’re in a meeting or watching a movie. To help you in these situations, you can enable the Do Not Disturb setting to send all callers straight to voicemail.



This setting can be toggled on or off from the Settings menu or by calling your Google Voice number. And starting this week, you can set a timer so that it only remains active for a set period of time.

We’re excited to continue to give you more control over your communications. As always, if you have suggestions for future improvements, please tell us!

Posted by Anthony Jawad, Software Engineer

Introducing Google Docs drawings

As we announced yesterday, we just launched a new tool for making drawings in Google Docs. You can use Google Docs drawings to make charts, diagrams, designs, and more. We’ve been using this tool at Google to create everything from project timelines to launch plans. Here are some examples of what you could make:


Create a drawing now!

Many of you previously tried the Insert Drawing feature in Google Docs and said you wanted to be able to collaborate on drawings. We heard you, and collaboration is what this launch is about. The new drawing editor lets you share drawings just like you share spreadsheets, documents, and presentations. You can also simultaneously edit drawings with your friends and chat with them right in the editor. Here’s what we mean:



With drawings, you can insert text, shapes, arrows, scribbles, and add images from your hard drive or from the Web. You can also use alignment guides, snap to grid, and auto distribution to lay out drawings with precision.


Once you’ve perfected your drawing, use it pretty much anywhere -- copy and paste your drawings into other document types using the web clipboard and then make edits with the embedded drawing editor, publish them as images hosted by Google, insert them into other web pages, or download them as PNGs, JPGs, PDFs, and SVG. Note: the new Google documents editor doesn’t have support for drawings yet, but we’re working on it.

Already have a drawing in another Google doc that you want to share with others? Just use the web clipboard to copy and paste it into the new drawing editor.

Please note that if you want to edit your drawings in the new editor, you need a browser that supports the SVG standard, like the latest versions of Safari, Firefox, or Chrome, or to install Chrome Frame if you are using Internet Explorer. You can learn more about browser requirements here.

We’re excited to hear how you and your friends use Google Docs drawings. If you have a cool drawing, share the publish URLs in comments or tell us what you think in the forums.

Posted by: Chris Nokleberg, Software Engineer

Google Buzz buttons

Posted by Mussie Shore, Product Manager

We've seen lots of people using Google Buzz to share interesting links from around the web. To do so, you had to copy and paste the link from one browser window to another — there weren't buttons that made it easy to post to Google Buzz without leaving the site you're on. Savvy sites like Mashable and TechCrunch quickly got creative and implemented their own Buzz buttons, using Google Reader as the backend. But not every site owner should have to hack together their own version of these buttons (and not everyone who uses Buzz also uses Reader), so this morning we're making copy-and-paste Buzz buttons available for anyone to use.

Starting today, you'll see these buttons around the web on participating sites including: The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Glamour, YouTube, Blogger, MySpace, GigaOM, PBS Parents, PBS NewsHour, The Next Web, TweetDeck, SocialWok, Disqus, Vinehub, and Buzzzy. Mashable and TechCrunch have updated their sites to use these new buttons too.


A number of sharing platforms, including ShareThis (pictured below), Meebo, Shareholic, AddThis and AddtoAny have also incorporated the Google Buzz button into their sharing functionality, so you'll see Buzz listed as a choice when you go to share something on many other sites around the web as well.


If you want to add Google Buzz buttons to your site, just go to buzz.google.com/stuff, configure your buttons with a couple clicks and copy a few lines of JavaScript. Paste this code where you'd like the Buzz buttons to appear and you're all set.


And if you'd like to promote your own Google Buzz account, we have a button for you, which allows people to follow you on Buzz right from your blog or website. Here's an example using the Google Buzz team's own Buzz account (clicking it will take you to the Buzz team's profile page and from there you can easily follow our team's posts):

Follow on Buzz

You can grab that button code from buzz.google.com/stuff as well.