Even Google Gets Hijacked

Think just because a company can throw around a big 'ol brand name it means their web business is always protected by an iron curtain? Think again. According to reports from Reuters, advertisements placed by Google on a number of web pages have been hijacked by Trojan software.

Reuters' source on this one is Romanian antivirus group BitDefender, who allege that Google's ads are being steered by text from a much different provider. What that means is that a specific program is directing queries for Google to a tertiary rogue server, which replaces the big G's ads with marketing from a third party.

On Wednesday, Google admitted things had gone awry for sales. In a statement the company admitted, ""We have cancelled customer accounts that display ads redirecting users to malicious sites or that advertise a product violating our software principles."

To some extent, it seems someone has truly aroused Google's ire. The company pledges to be more vigilant in the future, even if this last case only threatens their advertising structure. "We actively work to detect and remove sites that serve malware in both our ad network and in our search results. We have manual and automated processes in place to detect and enforce these policies," the company said in a statement. (Source: reuters.com)

Makes sense. After all, it isn't good business for the web's most powerful entity to be associated with security loopholes, no matter the cost.

BitDefender analysts agree. A representative for the antivirus company stated, "This is a serious situation that damages users and Webmasters alike."

BitDefender has officially named the trojan offender 'Trojan.Qhost.WU', which is classified as a low to medium threat. (Source: nationalpost.com)