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Sep 20 2009   9:54PM GMT

Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic Page



Posted by: Ken Harthun
Browsers, Firefox, Malware, Phishing, Security, Security management, Security tools

Thanks to Google, there’s a tool you can use to check any site and see if Google lists it as hosting any suspicious files or acting as a malware intermediary. Yes, I know there’s a Firefox extension and that the Google Toolbar for Firefox incorporates the tool, but what if you’re out in the field on a machine that doesn’t have the tool installed and you want to check a site? Simple. Use this URL:

“http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=[URL of site you want to check]” (Leave off the http://).

For example, this URL produced the report shown in the screen shot (click on the image to view it full size):

http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com

Try it out for yourself on your favorite sites. You might be surprised at what you find out.

(Thanks to Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte of Security Now! for presenting a reader comment that brought this to my attention.)

What do you think? Leave a comment!

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MichaelArgast  |   Sep 21, 2009  6:01 PM (GMT)

This is a great tool for finding out the status of sites you aren’t sure about, but doesn’t necessarily give you the whole picture as to whether it is safe to visit.

A great counter-example to this is the recent attack via the New York Times ad network, detailed here:
[A href="http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/09/15/hackers-bought-ad-space-york-times/"]http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/09/15/hackers-bought-ad-space-york-times/[/A]

In this case, the site itself wasn’t hosting the malicious code, but visiting the site still resulting in a scareware attack against the visitor, through the ad network (which the NYTimes failed to vet).

Michael Argast, Security Analyst, Sophos