Other LanguagesYesterday, Google started putting a yellow box with a warning at the top of search results pages for users who may have been infected with a certain kind of malware.
The warning says "Your computer appears to be infected. It appears that your computer is infected with software that intercepts your connection to Google and other sites." It looks like this:
Google says on their official blog that the malware is a particular strain that redirects an infected Windows computer's search results through proxies -- middlemen machines that hijack communications between search engines and users. The malware is believed to have been spread through fake antivirus software and a couple million machines are likely infected.
Following the link to "Learn how to fix this" leads to basic instructions on running your antivirus software to remove the infection.
To echo The Consumerist and Krebs readers, let's hope scammers don't start spoofing the look and feel of the Google notifications to trick people to click on more malware. That's been their standard tactic for some time. But unlike the fake banner ads we urge people not to click on, Google isn't trying to sell you anything.