Google error

I do. I'm 99% sure my system is clean, so my guess is they're just blocking that term all together.

CM

Quote:

Original post by Matthew Doucette http://www.google.com/search?q=Powered+by+phpBB gives me this error: Quote: Google Error We're sorry... ... but we can't process your request right now. A computer virus or spyware application is sending us automated requests, and it appears that your computer or network has been infected. We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your computer is free of viruses and other spurious software. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google. Does it do the same for any of you? (I assume so.) It must be related to the recent attacks on phpBB.com.

It's supposed to do that, actually. Too many script kiddies were running about searching for the EXACT search terms you just used, looking for vulnerable phpbb forums to "haxx0r".

I love Google's error, actually, probably makes the script kiddies nearly shit themselves, I'm sure. [wink]

Anyway, this was covered not long ago in the lounge.

Quote:

Original post by Captain Maple I love Google's error, actually, probably makes the script kiddies nearly shit themselves, I'm sure. [wink] Anyway, this was covered not long ago in the lounge.

Oops. Sorry about that. Thanks for explaining it. I can understand why they would put up a misleading error message. It caught me off guard because google never lies! r++.

Quote:

Original post by Matthew Doucette Quote: Original post by Captain Maple I love Google's error, actually, probably makes the script kiddies nearly shit themselves, I'm sure. [wink] Anyway, this was covered not long ago in the lounge. Oops. Sorry about that. Thanks for explaining it. I can understand why they would put up a misleading error message. It caught me off guard because google never lies! r++.

Not a problem.

Quote:

Original post by Captain Maple It's supposed to do that, actually. Too many script kiddies were running about searching for the EXACT search terms you just used, looking for vulnerable phpbb forums to "haxx0r".

Considering the millions of transactions Google does per day, I can't believe they would even notice a couple hundred idiots looking for forums to hack.

This leads me to believe they stopped it not because it was a problem, but because they didn't like their service being used for ill intended purposes.

This leads me to believe that Google is in the business of censorship.

CM

Quote:

Original post by Conner McCloud Quote: Original post by Captain Maple It's supposed to do that, actually. Too many script kiddies were running about searching for the EXACT search terms you just used, looking for vulnerable phpbb forums to "haxx0r". Considering the millions of transactions Google does per day, I can't believe they would even notice a couple hundred idiots looking for forums to hack. This leads me to believe they stopped it not because it was a problem, but because they didn't like their service being used for ill intended purposes. This leads me to believe that Google is in the business of censorship. CM

That's another way of looking at it...

I don't think Google is much for censorship - but hey, they did do a bit of mangling to the Scientology results for a bit.

Quote:

Original post by Conner McCloud Considering the millions of transactions Google does per day, I can't believe they would even notice a couple hundred idiots looking for forums to hack. This leads me to believe they stopped it not because it was a problem, but because they didn't like their service being used for ill intended purposes. This leads me to believe that Google is in the business of censorship.

This leads me to believe that you underestimate Google's ability to notice things. ;)

I would think that Google was contacted by the phpBB guys, which asked for help regarding this issue.

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Original post by Raduprv I would think that Google was contacted by the phpBB guys, which asked for help regarding this issue.

My theory as well.

That could be, but depending on how the script kiddies were launching the attack, google could have noticed it that way as well. Google could have been getting a large amount of requests from the same IP with the same terms. A little investigation work would reveal what's really going on.

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Original post by kSquared This leads me to believe that you underestimate Google's ability to notice things. ;)

Obviously they could notice it, but not in a 'these guys are really putting a drain on our servers' sort of way. There's no way blocking that particular search term is going to save them any money, or speed up other people's searches, or any other practicallity based reason.

CM

Yahoo search -- phpBBHacks.com is the second result.

The hacks on that site have to do with customizing phpBB.

The reason this is blocked is not because script kiddies were searching for it. It is blocked because there was a worm called Santy that *automatically* searched for forums to infect using google. Blocking this search term helped prevent and stem the spread of the worm.

More Info:

Link

Link

Link

-Evan

Quote:

Original post by terminate The reason this is blocked is not because script kiddies were searching for it. It is blocked because there was a worm called Santy that *automatically* searched for forums to infect using google. Blocking this search term helped prevent and stem the spread of the worm. More Info: Link Link Link -Evan

Yes, exactly. I remember this (now), too. r++. Why the misleading error message then? The error message is for people to read, not worms, obviously. So, the message was intended for certain people to read.

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Original post by CGameProgrammer Yahoo search -- phpBBHacks.com is the second result.

I was under the assumption that phpBBHacks.com was a helpful "mod" site, not a php hacking site:
http://www.phpbbhacks.com/allhacks.php

(Perhaps I misinterpreted your post.)

This is one of those rare cases where it's really not an error, but a feature