Google diverts traffic away from malware sites

Google has started to alert users who are clicking on search results pointing to potentially dangerous websites.

The users who click on a link that leads to a site containing malware will be diverted to a special Google page stating: "Warning – the site you are about to visit may harm your computer!"

The page currently offers a link to the StopBadware.org website as well as the actual website the user was trying to visit. Over time the warning page will be expanded with a more detailed report.

The list of malware websites is supplied by the Stop Badware Coalition that was founded last January by the universities of Oxford and Harvard. The initiative is funded by IT vendors including Google, Lenovo and Sun Microsystems.

"Hopefully this next step will bring us that much closer to fulfilling our mission of providing people with reliable, objective information about downloadable applications in order to help them make better choices," Stopbadware.org said in a blog posting.