Google Desktop Security Threat

hefty_langer

The new Google Desktop beta is a serious security threat - can resurrect cached webpages from the HD.... see article below...

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118201,00.asp

seamus

who say it poses risks for users who don't understand its power.

Nuff said.

Tbh, it's a non-issue. It just highlights the fact that people need to start learning and copping themselves on. In this day and age, computers are everywhere. There's no excuse for not being familiar with them, if you use them in your everyday life. Exactly the same as you can't complain about your car breaking down because you weren't familar with how to do the simple service things.

What Google Desktop does is exactly what a genuinely malicious program or user could do, and you wouldn't find out anything about it.

Fenster

erp, wrong thread

Capt'n Midnight

It's not a security threat in and of itself - since it updates itself it has the potential to become one later on. At present it does not phone home, unlike 15,000 other spyware apps live on the internet. In a similar way IE is consistantly a potential serurity threat even when fully patched, due to the continal attacks on it. Also since the google bar blocks pop-ups you could argue that installing google software would leave the average users machine more secure !

Note: If you have not fully patched IE, windows and Office then a JPEG can take control of your machine.

Anytime you click on or install anything you are effectively handing control of your machine to it and if you have an unpatched machine they you are effectviely handing full control of your machine to every web site you visit.