Yahoo Turns on SearchScan Security Feature
Posted by keirsun on May 06, 2008 at 11:02 AM
If you used Yahoo to perform your morning searches today, you may have noticed a message similar to this one at the top of your search results.
This warning is the result of a new feature called SearchScan. Yahoo has released the feature in an effort to protect its users from viruses, spyware and spam.
According to Yahoo, SearchScan is the result of a partnership with McAfee, Inc. and utilizes McAfee's SiteAdvisor technology to identify "risky websites" that appear in Yahoo's search results. Yahoo says SearchScan will identify three types of risks:
1. Browser Exploits
Sites that automatically trigger a malicious download when a user visits the site. But you're unlikely to see this warning listed in your search results - Yahoo says it will automatically remove these sites from its results.
2. Dangerous Downloads
Sites that offer potentially dangerous software downloads, which include viruses, spyware or adware.
3. Unsolicited Email
Sites that send spammy emails or share email addresses with third parties without the users consent.
The SearchScan popup info box provides a "More details" link that points to McAfee's Site Advisor site, providing more information on why the site was flagged. There is also a "Site owner support" link for webmasters who want to protest.
By default SearchScan is turned on for all Yahoo users in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain. But the feature is optional.
Awhile back, we looked at the growing trend of search engine safety. For Yahoo, SearchScan appears to be the next step in making its existing users feel safer, in addition to trying to entice new users.
For more information about SearchScan, visit the Yahoo Search Blog.
Tags
Yahoo
SearchScan
Oneupweb
Category
Search Engines
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Comments (3)
Posted on May 13, 2008 08:37 AM
David - Thanks for your comment and for blogging about your recent, tangled mess of an experience with Yahoo - everyone who works with Yahoo on any level should read your post. When I wrote this post I figured it would only be a matter of time before the horror stories starting coming in following the launch of Yahoo SearchScan. In my experience, Yahoo has been notorious for refusing to fix its own mistakes. In the short term, this hurts the business owner trying to work with Yahoo. In the long term, Yahoo's unwillingness to own up to its problems only hurts Yahoo. As is evident in Yahoo's falling U.S. search share.
Posted on July 10, 2008 12:30 AM
Yahoo has posted a false "Unsolicited Emails" warning associated with our website, www.rumford.com, when searching for "Rumford fireplaces". The warning is generated by Yahoo's partner, McAfee SiteAdvisor. False because SiteAdvisor says they made that determination by "entering our e-mail address on this site". Problem is, we have no forms or any other way to automatically enter an email message. I do all the site maintenance manually in html and sweep all the pages onto the Internet myself.
Thinking that SiteAdvisor had somehow made a simple mistake, I tried to contact them by phone and email - to no avail. After a month of trying, I have not gotten to anyone who will listen. Rather, I get transferred from one anonymous customer relations person to another. Same so far with McAfee and Yahoo.
So I have complained to the Washington Attorney General and the California and Texas Better Business Bureau and have hired a lawyer - just to try to get someone in charge to talk with me.
I have also spent some time surfing the blogs to see what others think about McAfee and Yahoo. I learned that McAfee falsely targets many websites with their faulty but arrogantly defended technology - and then blames their victims. There is plenty of discussion about the websites McAfee has falsely red tagged on several blogs, such as http://ycorpblog.com/2008/05/05/do-you-know-where-you-mouse-has-been/ and http://www.crn.com/security/208401061 and http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Webmaster_Help
I also discovered at http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2006-3.htm that McAfee paid a $50 million penalty to settle a lawsuit filed against them by the SEC for fraud.
If you have any helpful advice or would like to join us in a lawsuit please contact me.
Jim Buckley
360 385 9974
buckley@rumford.com
Posted on May 12, 2008 11:54 PM
The biggest problem with the system is that when it fails and gives a false positive, Yahoo is unwilling to do anything about it.
We have been wrongly targeted and have that warning on the few listings that remain in Yahoo. We were booted from Paid Inclusion and we have seen almost all of our Yahoo Paid Search listings taken offline.
Why? Because Yahoo says we SPAM. We don't and never will.
You can read all of the details at http://www.revenews.com/davidlewis/my-life-as-a-spammer-or-so-says-yahoo/