Google's New PC Search Tool Poses Risks
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NEW YORK - People who use public or workplace computers for e-mail, instant messaging and Web searching have a new privacy risk to worry about: Google's free new tool that indexes a PC's contents for quickly locating data.    If it's installed on computers at libraries and Internet cafes, users could unwittingly allow people who follow them on the PCs, for example, to see sensitive information in e-mails they've exchanged...
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Search engine leader Google has been forced to respond to a security vulnerability in its Google Desktop Search software, which reportedly made it possible for computer intruders to view desktop search results via the Web.
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Integrated attack Google has fixed a security flaw in its desktop search software that created a means for hackers to rifle through personal files on users' PCs.â¦
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A flaw in Google&#39;s desktop search program was revealed on Monday by a team of computer researchers. They showed it could be used to capture valuable personal information from a remote user&#39;s computer.
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GOOGLE caused a stir when it announced recently that its search engine can now look for data that is stored in users&#39; computers.
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Hole could allow remote attackers to access your local search results.
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InfoWorld - Much as the ubiquity of Microsoft&#39;s Windows operating system and Office productivity tools has made the software giant a focal point of security research, search giant Google is facing new scrutiny as it diversifies its products and moves further into the business environment.
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If you use shared or public computers, you have a new privacy risk to consider: Google Desktop Search. Announced last week and currently available in a beta version, Google Desktop Search allows you to scour
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NEW YORK Oct. 18, 2004 - People who use public or workplace computers for e-mail, instant messaging and Web searching have a new privacy risk to worry about: Google&#39;s free new tool that indexes a PC&#39;s contents for quickly locating data.
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(InfoWorld) - Google's PC search software is vulnerable to a variation on a little-known Web-based attack called anti-DNSÂ pinning that could give an attacker access to any data indexed by Google Desktop, security researchers said this week. This is the second security problem reported this week for the software. On Wednesday, researchers at Watchfire saidÂ they'd found a flaw that could allow attackers to read files or run unauthorized softwareÂ on systems running Google Desktop. As with Watchfire's bug, attackers would first need to exploit a cross-site scripting flaw in the Google.com Web site for this latest attack to work, but the consequences could be serious, according to Robert Hansen, the independent security researcher who first reported the attack. "All of the data on a Google desktop can now be siphoned off to an attacker's machine," he said. Cross-site scripting flaws are common Web server vulnerabilities that can be exploited to run unauthorized code within the victim's browser. Hansen, who is CEO of Sectheory.com, did not post proof of concept code for his attack, but he said that he has "tested every component of it, and it works." He has posted some details of how Google Desktop data could be compromised on his blog. Google said it was investigating Hansen's findings. "In addition, we recently added another layer of security checks to the latest version of Google Desktop to protect users from vulnerabilities related to Web search integration in the future," the company said in a prepared statement. Anti-DNS pinning is an emerging area of security research, understood by just a handful of researchers, said Jeremiah Grossman, CTO at WhiteHat Security. The variation of this attack described by Hansen manipulates the way the browser works with the Internet's DNS in order to trick the browser into sending information to an attacker's computer. "Once you can re-point Google to another IP address, instead of Google getting the traffic, the bad guy does," he said. Because this type of attack is so difficult to pull off and is poorly understood, it is unlikely to be used by the criminals any time soon, Grossman said. But anti-DNS pinning shouldn't be ignored, he added. "We should keep our eyes on it in case the bad guys shift gears." News of the attack comes as Google is trying to enter the desktop productivity market. On Thursday, Google launched a suite of Web-based collaboration software, called the Google Apps Premier Edition, that analysts sayÂ could become a competitor to Microsoft Office. The troubling thing about the attack Hanson identified, which he calls anti-anti-anti-DNS pinning, is that there is very little that can be done to avoid it short of eliminating cross-site scripting vulnerabilities on the Web. "This is really just fundamentally about how browsers work," he said. "If you allow a Web site to have access to your drive -- to modify, to change things, to integrate, or whatever -- you're relying on that Web site to be secure." Hansen and Grossman say that Google is not the only company vulnerable to a growing category of Web-based attacks. For instance, MySpace.com was hit when a fast-moving worm spread through the MySpace community in early December, stealing MySpace log-in credentials and promoting adware Web sites. "A lot of these new attack techniques are going to require the browsers to improve," Grossman said. "The users really have very little ability to protect themselves against these attacks" he said. "It's very bad. Even the experts are afraid to click on each other's links anymore." Â
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Google is offering free software that lets users simultaneously search the Web and their personal computers for information. Analysts call the move a potential blow to rivals Microsoft and Yahoo in the race
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Google has just introduced its latest invention: software that applies its search technology to what is on your own hard drive.
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But not MySpace One morning last week, Alan Jay, director of Digital Spy, woke up to discover that Google was warning millions of web surfers that his UK-based entertainment news site was one "that may harm your computer."â¦
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Google released a free tool today that lets people simultaneously search the Web and their personal computers for information, a move analysts described as a potential blow to rivals. -The Washington Post
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Computer scientists have discovered a potentially serious flaw in Google&#39;s desktop search utility that could allow attackers to steal information.
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Google is quickly responding to security threats, as befits a search site that is rapidly becoming indispensable for IT users of all kinds.
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Google Desktop Search is an amazing little tool. It allows you to search your computer more quickly, completely and intuitively than Windows&#39; search feature.