Web Browsing, Search, and Online Ads Grow More Risky, Google Says

Today's issue of ACM TechNews points up Google security engineer Neils Provos' finding that Web browsing and search are increasingly becoming channels for the distribution of malware.

Google has found in excess of 3 million unique URLs on more than 180,000 websites that attempt to install malware on visitors' computers. Surprisingly, Provos and co-authors of a paper that describes the impact of "drive-by downloads", acknowledge that Internet advertising is contributing to malware distribution.

For further coverage of the issue, see InformationWeek.