Has Google been hacked?

I just ran several searches on google, from their "advanced" search page,
and NONE of them gave me any useful links at all.

The last search I ran was for exact phrase "the history of milk chocolate".
I got 184 totally OFF-topic results, which included (my favorite) "used
ultralight aircraft for sale in Australia". Oh, and all the links end in
..pl

It kind of looks like Google has been hacked. -Dave

 

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=history+milk+chocolate

 

Odd. I just ran the search again. AGAIN I got mostly off-topic links, most
of which the url ends in ".pl". Again, has google been hacked? -Dave

http://www.google.com/search?q=+"history+of+milk+chocolate"&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=40&sa=N

 

clear your temp internet folder and cookies
try a simple search with no preferences

 

X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2670

Because of this, and the fact that other people don't seem to be having
the same experience that you have, the most likely solution is that you
have some sort of malware.

 

I agree 110% with this malware issue.

 

OK, well my antivirus software was updated today. I ran a full system scan
with nothing found. I updated ad-aware with the latest definitions today.
It found a few cookies and deleted them. Nothing else was found. I cleared
ALL stored information out of firefox, rebooted the system and tried again.
Again I got mostly results with urls ending in .pl

http://www.google.com/search?q=+"history+of+milk+chocolate"&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=30&sa=N

I did get some relevant results, but it is really ODD that most of the
results are off-topic, and hosted in Poland? -Dave

 

Anything's possible. But my antivirus software has completed two sweeps of
the entire system (with today's definition files) and has found nothing.
Ad-aware (with today's definition files) reports nothing. The system sits
behind a hardware and software firewall. It is about as secure as any
windows computer could be, which is to say, NOT VERY. -Dave

 

google toolbar installed?
you physically looked in the temp folders and deleted ALL cookies
check your 'hosts' file

 

No it doesn't. You didn't click through far enough. Most of the results of
your own search that you ran are off-topic, and the urls are hosted in
Poland. -Dave

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=+"history+of+milk+chocolate"&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=20&sa=N

(this is an example of a few pages down in your own search results)

 

It has nothing to do with my computer. Someone else ran a search on Google
UK and got the same results. -Dave

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=+"history+of+milk+chocolate"&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=20&sa=N

The above is not a search that I ran, it was run on a different computer, on
the UK google web site. Note that most of the results are off-topic, and
hosted in Poland. It's not my equipment, and it's certainly not any
software on my equipment. -Dave

 

Ok mike But just so you know, Just because 1 2 3 people that run
google UK and got some polish results doesn't constitute a 'hack'.
Furthermore if 1000 people have accessed google UK, and its a 'cookie'
""hack"", then all 1000 people would have been 'hacked'(cookie dropped) and
that has everything to do with ;your; rig as the misdirect is sitting in a
cookie on your harddrive in your machine. That being said, if you cleared it
manually, ya just should have said so..

 

I get it too on Linux FWIW. google.co.uk is OK

Google hasnt been 'hacked' but I think the domain .turek.pl has this
phrase in its HTTP Headers and somehow fooled Google. By having the sites
all refer to one another or something...


Lordy

 

Have you ever heard of "spam farms" ?

If I load up a web page, with megabytes of common phrases, I
can raise the priority of my web site. Now, if I set up a few
thousand web sites like that, perhaps hosted on a small number
of computers, and each one has some adverts on it, I can make
big money by tricking you to click on the link. Usually the
nonsense host name in the URL, is the giveaway that you are
entering a "farm".

A good spam farm will harvest common English phrases right
out of USENET postings. So the more you repeat your common
phrases in USENET, the more likely it is that a spam farm
will add the phrase to their web page.

I find on Altavista, if I do a search that has some relevant
links, the spam farms occur further down the list of returned
results. If I search for something that doesn't occur on a
legitimate site, then all I get is spam farm listings.

The people who run the search engines are aware of
the existence of spam farms (as it fills their server database
with garbage), but it is an ongoing battle between the
"farmers" and the search engine tuners. And the "farmers"
appear to be mostly winning the battle.

This might be a place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_chocolate

HTH,
Paul

 

1. your search is not on first page of results. on the first page enough
good search results pop up

2. google isnt hacked its just tricked into thinking those pl-sites are
"useful" and this is be done since years. normally google knows about
and sometime later those sites disappear again.

 

is not true. my google lists his links too but they appear on later
resultpages not on first. its normal and nothing strange. just some
linkfarms on .pl domains.

all other results appear normal.

 

| Mike T. wrote:
| > | >
| >>google toolbar installed?
| >>you physically looked in the temp folders and deleted ALL cookies
| >>check your 'hosts' file
| >>
| >
| >
| > It has nothing to do with my computer. Someone else ran a search on
Google
| > UK and got the same results. -Dave
| >
| >
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=+"history+of+milk+chocolate"&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&start=20&sa=N
| >
| > The above is not a search that I ran, it was run on a different
computer, on
| > the UK google web site. Note that most of the results are off-topic,
and
| > hosted in Poland. It's not my equipment, and it's certainly not any
| > software on my equipment. -Dave
| >
| >
|
| No, that isn't the search the UK poster posted. His was this
|
|
http://www.google.co.uk/search?as_q...as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images
|
| And his does not produce the pl results yours does.
|
| Also, whenever I try inputting the search phrase you use I get normal
| results. It's only when using the LINK you post that the PL results occur.
|

No. My search result is absolutely identical to his.

 

Odd indeed. All I get are references to the history of chocolate.
**shrug**

No off-topic garbage at all.

--
____________________________________________________________
Kubuntu, try it and Windows will be a thing of the past.
(Ubuntu is a humanist ideology from Sub-Saharan Africa)

H. Seldon

I wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence.
There's a knob called "Brightness" but it doesn't work.