Google deems entire internet malware

31 January 2009 15:21 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Google saw its entire search offering crippled on Saturday afternoon leaving millions of internet users unsure whether their search results led them to possibly dangerous sites that could harm their computer.

Google users clicking on a link regardless of the destination from any Google search result were told that visiting the site could harm your computer.

Instead of the site in question, users were re-directed to a Google page:

"Warning - visiting this web site may harm your computer!"

The error, which appeared around 3pm on Saturday seemed to affect every result for the search engine.

"Or you can continue to http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/ at your own risk. For detailed information about the problems we found, visit Google's Safe Browsing diagnostic page for this site", the page continued before suggesting "For more information about how to protect yourself from harmful software online, you can visit StopBadware.org".

The problem lasted around 20 minutes before being fixed by Google. We are awaiting a statement from the company as to what caused the problem.