Which AntiVirus is used by Google?
|
Image: Luis Alvarez/Getty Images Show A popular antivirus that’s used by millions of people around the world blocked all Google sites and services on Wednesday due to a mistake. For around an hour on Wednesday morning, some people who had Malwarebytes antivirus installed on their computers could not visit any Google site or use services like Gmail or the Google Play Store, according to people who complained about the issue on Twitter. Naomi Clark, a game designer and teacher at the New York University’s Game Center, who wrote on Twitter about the issue, told Motherboard that websites “wouldn't load, as if blocked by a firewall.” “But even before that, my Malwarebytes installation started showing me system notifications that a malware site had been blocked, dozens per minute, all Google domains,” she said. “That's how I realized what must have happened.” Clark said in a tweet that this issue “reminds you how Google ad-tracking IPs are peppered over absolutely everything.” Kyle Polley, who works in cybersecurity, said that his fiancé was affected by the issue. “She got what felt like an endless number of alerts that are along the lines of ‘malwarebytes blocked Marcin Kleczynski, the CEO and co-founder of Malwarebytes, told Motherboard that it was “an accidental false positive. Fixed fairly quickly,” and that it affected only Windows users. “Unfortunately always a noisy event when you have millions of users,” Kleczynski added. Malwarbytes first acknowledged the issue around 11:30 a.m. ET in a tweet. “We are aware of a temporary issue with the web filtering component of our product that may be blocking certain domains, including http://google.com. We are actively working on a fix and will update Twitter as soon as we have more information,” the company wrote on Twitter. About an hour later, the company wrote that the issue was resolved, and that the update “should happen automatically.” Kleczynski said the issue lasted around 30 minutes. Clark said it persisted for around an hour and a half for her. Several people responded to the company’s tweets saying the issue was fixed complaining that it was still ongoing. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. UPDATE, 4:17 p.m. ET: This story was updated to include additional information. Sign up for Motherboard’s daily newsletter for a regular dose of our original reporting, plus behind-the-scenes content about our biggest stories. The reason I ask is because google(google drive) was able to find malicious php code in a zip file, bitdefender found it as well but others, e.g. AVG didnt. I read a old yahoo answer that sophos is the one they used during beta but is it still whats used to scan files? ...Maybe it was bitdefender who found it and flagged it and google drive can see the flag after syncing. In the 9-plus years it's been around, Google Chrome has become one of the best -- and most popular -- web browsers in the world. One reason for its rapid rise has been Google's focus on security. Protecting Chrome users from malware remains a top priority today. What you may not have realized is that Chrome's ability to protect you from ransomware, hijackers and other nastiness extends beyond the browser itself. Believe it or not, Chrome can actually scan your entire computer for malware... just like a standalone antivirus program does. Here's how you do it. Open Chrome (or open a new tab if Chrome is already running) and type the following in to the address bar at the top: chrome://settings/cleanup. You can also click that link if you're a Chrome user -- it treats the special chrome:// address like any you'd normally type in, like http://www.forbes.com. Here's what you should see when you do that: Click the bottom button and Chrome will start scanning your computer. The behind-the-scenes malware detection is actually handled by ESET, a highly-regarded IT security company based in Slovakia. It's worth knowing that the scanner doesn't just look for things like ransomware and other Trojans or viruses. Google's policy is to look for all kinds of "unwanted software," which can include apps that you might not realize you installed, apps that upload your data to remote servers without your knowledge or even apps that aren't honest about what they're doing. Google lists its criteria on this web page if you'd like more information. Chrome Cleanup is a handy additional layer of defense against malware. If you use Chrome to browse the web, it's worth running a scan every now and then just to get a second opinion about the state of your computer's security. Just remember that Chrome Cleanup is an on-demand only scanner. It does not offer real-time protection like a traditional anti-malware app does. Does Google use antivirus software?Google makes use of multiple antivirus engines in Gmail, Drive, servers and workstations to help identify malware that may be missed by antivirus signatures.
Does Google Chrome need antivirus?While Chrome gets regular security updates and is generally pretty safe, it's a popular target for hackers. So you should definitely consider using antivirus software to protect your device and data from cybercriminals.
What antivirus works with Google Chrome?You can protect your Chromebook from malware by making sure all of its security features are running and by using additional antivirus software. What antivirus works on Chromebook? The best antivirus software for Chromebook is Norton, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, Trend Micro, and Avast.
|
