Mahoning Valley Forum

Youngstown & The Mahoning Valley => Announcements & Events => Topic started by: ForumManager on October 28, 2009, 08:00:59 PM

Title: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: ForumManager on October 28, 2009, 08:00:59 PM

Google reported this site as an attack site and firefox users were redirected to a warning page.    I contacted Google after trying to follow the links they provided in their report.  They have removed the warning. In the future if you receive  the warning page, you can use Internet explorer to browse the site without interference.  Always be aware that spammers can post bad links to this forum if they become members.  Please be cautious about what links you click.

Very sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks,

FM
Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: sfc_oliver on October 28, 2009, 08:12:00 PM
I knew you'd get it straightened out. :)
Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: AllanY2525 on October 28, 2009, 11:34:50 PM
One of the things that really bothers me is:

How is Google tracking what sites I visit in the first place(?) I regularly scan
the PC that I web surf with and remove cookies, spyware, etc....

In order for Google to even know that I frequent the forum, they have to
have the ability to track my movements on the Internet.

I might just stop using Mozilla for a while, and file a complaint - this strikes
me as an invasion of privacy, of sorts...

Anyways..... kudos on your victory over this whole fiasco !

:/
Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: Towntalk on October 28, 2009, 11:57:05 PM
I've noticed that Google and Yahoo and an outfit from Communist China visits this web site on a daily basis and saw some strange activity.

Why would Google be sending messages here?

Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: ForumManager on October 29, 2009, 09:00:31 AM

QuoteIn order for Google to even know that I frequent the forum, they have to
have the ability to track my movements on the Internet.

I don't think Google is tracking you - but I could be wrong.
What they do is scan sites regularly and if they feel the sites link to malware sites they put up a red flag.  Then Mozilla picks up on that red flag depending on how you have your security settings configured on your browser... but  as I infer from your note... seems a little bit "big brotherish"... doesn't it?
Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: ForumManager on October 29, 2009, 09:02:01 AM

BTW- Thank you very much Jay, for letting me know about the issue.
Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: AllanY2525 on October 30, 2009, 03:09:11 AM
So basically, this is some type of "pull" technology, rather than
"push" technology.

The Mozilla browser is checking Google's "black list" by querying their
site before going to the site requested by the user?

If this is the case, then I don't have a problem with it... except that
by checking for red flags, Mozilla is still allowing Google to record
peoples web surfing proclivities.... still kind of unsettling
Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: ForumManager on October 30, 2009, 08:51:14 AM
Quote from: AllanY2525 on October 30, 2009, 03:09:11 AM
So basically, this is some type of "pull" technology, rather than
"push" technology.

The Mozilla browser is checking Google's "black list" by querying their
site before going to the site requested by the user?

If this is the case, then I don't have a problem with it... except that
by checking for red flags, Mozilla is still allowing Google to record
peoples web surfing proclivities.... still kind of unsettling

agreed
Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: AllanY2525 on October 30, 2009, 02:53:40 PM
I've seen the message that says somethinhg abou connecting to google analytics
in Mozilla's status bar when surfing the web and waiting for pages to download
from some sites... this might be part of that whole process.

Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: sfc_oliver on October 30, 2009, 03:55:23 PM
This is what I got as a warning:

Safe Browsing
Diagnostic page for mahoningvalley.info

What is the current listing status for mahoningvalley.info?

    Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.

    Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 1 time(s) over the past 90 days.

What happened when Google visited this site?

    Of the 122 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 30 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-10-27, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-10-27.

    Malicious software includes 15 trojan(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 1 new process(es) on the target machine.

    Malicious software is hosted on 9 domain(s), including new-pcprotection.com/, newsystem-scanner.com/, goguardmy-pc.com/.

    5 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including viamot5re.net/, gih91i.xorg.pl/, frnmnthd.com/.

    This site was hosted on 1 network(s) including AS11798 (BLUEHOST).

Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?

    Over the past 90 days, mahoningvalley.info did not appear to function as an intermediary for the infection of any sites.

Has this site hosted malware?

    No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days.

How did this happen?

    In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message.

Next steps:

    * Return to the previous page.
    * If you are the owner of this web site, you can request a review of your site using Google Webmaster Tools. More information about the review process is available in Google's Webmaster Help Center
Title: Re: Mahoningvalley.info is not an attack site
Post by: ForumManager on October 30, 2009, 06:57:08 PM
In Google webmaster tools it gave me the list of  "bad" links to follow on this site and none of them  went any where ... they didn't seem to exist so I contacted them.  They removed the block.