Top > Webmaster > 2006 > July > 2006-07-10

Websense Uses Google Code to Track Malware

Apparently, one of Google`s less-known capabilities can help track down malicious software. Websense, one of the leading online security companies, have uncovered thousands of malicious web sites, as well as legitimate sites that have been hacked. Websense has created new software that can track malware using Google`s binary search capabilities.

The company searches the net using Google for strings that are known to be used by malware and that way tracks them down. Websense uncovered more than 2,000 websites that were infected by malicious worms during the past month. "They (Google) actually look inside the internals of an executable and index that information," said Dan Hubbard, senior director of security at Websense.

Hubbard said that his team is planning to spread the news about this feature among other elements in the online security community so that further research can be made. The new code will not be available for the public, for fear that the tool could be used for harmful actions.