Google’s spyware slip up

Despite Google’s unofficial “do no evil” motto, the search engine giant has managed to let a known malware site slip past its security team, leaving users vulnerable.

Google’s security team regularly blocks websites known to distribute malware and spyware – applications that harm your computer or gain private information.

But one site managed to slip past the team, which then was distributed to other websites via its Google AdWords service. The malware site shuts down a user’s computer, restarts it and then displays an error message, letting the user know of a security issue.

The malware then installs “Antivirus XP 2008,” but instead of blocking virus software the application secretly gathers data such as credit card numbers.

But despite the widespread problem, Google says the issue was quickly resolved.

“Google is committed to ensuring the safety and security of our users and our advertisers. As soon as we are aware of any violations of our policy, we work quickly to investigate and remove sites that serve malware in both our ad network and in our search results. As such, we’ve removed this site from our ad network,” a spokesperson said.