Google Stops Santy's Claws - For Now

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Google has blocked a new type of Internet worm that was targeting the company's search engine in order to find vulnerable computers on the Internet.

The automatic worm, dubbed Santy.A, focuses on servers running phpBB, an electronic bulletin board software package. The worm was considered dangerous because it required no action from users in order to infect computers.

Santy represents a new kind of threat, according to security firm F-Secure, because its automatic function allows it to find vulnerable machines very quickly. The firm noted that Google's action in shutting down the Santy search should end the outbreak immediately and permanently.

Although the Santy worm has been slain, it is likely that malicious hackers will begin targeting Google more aggressively in the future.

"Google has become an integral part of the way people use the Web," F-Secure researcher Mikko Hypponen told NewsFactor. "I have a bad feeling that attacks using Google will become more prevalent."

Threats have cropped up in the past related to Google, Hypponen noted, but they have been viruses that used the search engine to locate e-mail addresses.

Santy has demonstrated that a worm can be launched from the technology as well, which is worthy of concern, according to F-Secure.

If Google does become a prime target, the company might need to boost its security response time if it wants to gain respect in the security community.

As of now, Google has garnered complaints for its lack of adequate security contact information, which leads to delays in communication.

When F-Secure researchers discovered Santy, Hypponen got no response to e-mails sent to Google's general security address, which is the only way listed on the site to alert the company of security problems.

He ended up going through the public relations department in order to weave his way through to the actual security team.

"The Google security team is up to speed, and that's good," he said. "But they've geared their operation toward protecting Google. It's not enough for the company to just protect itself. It needs to protect users, too."

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