Google Web Accelerator

Vunderground

This was posted here sometime ago, but if you go to the Google site it's not available, but it is here:

http://wwww.softpedia.com/progDownload/Google-Web-Accelerator-Download-21731.htm

I found it works very well with Firefox and IE. The only odd thing is that I have to turn it off to open Eircom web mail. This is where I found the link:

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Google-Web-Accelerator-Download-21731.html

Chalk

its a complete security risk,
its taken down because people "could possibly" access your bank/email/forum accounts through it.

Vunderground

The first link isn't working there. Read the second for the first and below for the second.



http://www.techsupportalert.com/issues/issue121.htm#gwa

Vunderground

If you read the material at the second link, that works it says:

" To protect
user privacy, the accelerator does not function during
connections to secure sites such as internet banking."

Hope this is true 'cos I like it!

Kali

Chalk wrote:

its a complete security risk,
its taken down because people can access your bank/email/forum accounts through it.

While I don't like the thought of external proxies from a security and privacy point of view, thats complete scare-mongering, and hardly the case at all... although if you can supply proof of the above I'd be interested to read it.

This is the official reason from their website that its no longer listed:

Thank you for your
interest in Google Web Accelerator.
We have currently reached our
maximum capacity of users and
are actively working to increase
the number of users we can support

DemonOfTheFall

It's not scare mongering.

TONS of people were reporting going to websites and finding out that they were signed in as other people. Google it. There was uproar about it

Keyzer

I thought it was crap. Some sites took centuries to open.
Remoived the accelator and I was back to normal...

Chalk

Kali wrote:

While I don't like the thought of external proxies from a security and privacy point of view, thats complete scare-mongering, and hardly the case at all... although if you can supply proof of the above I'd be interested to read it.

This is the official reason from their website that its no longer listed:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/13/google_accelerator_suspended/

theres even a thread around here about it.

it does say theres no question that bank acocuntes were compromised,
but the potential is there,
so they suspended it.

Vunderground

Damn! Thats bad news 'cos I have found it speeds things up - particularly noticeable with Firefox and nothing troubling has happened in two day. Thanks for the feedback.

Kali

Chalk wrote:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/13/google_accelerator_suspended/

theres even a thread around here about it.

it does say theres no question that bank acocuntes were compromised,
but the potential is there,
so they suspended it.

Excellent thanks.. makes good reading, gwa still didn't cache anything marked as no-cache or ssl/https content. Still if anything it should prompt sites to implement proper webserver configurations for dynamic user-based content.

Chalk

while it didnt share the cached details of the types of pages you mentioned.
the information has still passed through googles servers and may or may not be stored there.

to highlight the need for people to be extremely cautious with cc numbers and bank details -
yesterdays indo had a story of an indian call centre working for an english bank where the call staff were selling customers bank details for £4.50 a record.

and if you read the related links on the register link i gave,
theres an editorial about how google is redesigning the web to its own end,
websites designed to maximise google ads potential /
everyone using google to search - who decides the content now?
and then web accelerator, google caching the pages and then sending them out,
ie if you have google ads on your page, they can alter the ads to whatever they like,
depending on pages youve been to recently , their spiders already read your gmail.
google client and google server = google net

its an extreme notion but one that should be taken into acount when potentially exposing your persoanl details to a third party.

Capt'n Midnight

Vunderground wrote:

If you read the material at the second link, that works it says:

" To protect
user privacy, the accelerator does not function during
connections to secure sites such as internet banking."

Hope this is true 'cos I like it!

boards.ie is not a secure site.
everything you view could be cached like, private messages which may have others users bank details and phone numbers if you bought/sold stuff.

Vunderground

Got rid of it. If an Irish ISP would just be nice and give a 48mb dowload (or even 8 to be going on with) I wouldn't still be mucking about with this rubbish. Oh well, five years ago I wouldn't have thought we'd ever get broadband, but you know what I mean.