Virus Writers Taint Google Ad Links from the Washington Post covers a report saying that consumers trying to reach some legitimate sites might be getting infected with malicious software when they click on ads at Google.

The software tries to “steal passwords and other sensitive information from infected PCs,” the article says. Google has reportedly removed the ads.

In addition, I reported a possible exploit where hackers can gain access to your AdWords account and potentially serve ads under your profile.

Postscript: Google responded saying an “incident this week served as an important reminder about what we as an online community need to do to ensure our security.”

On Tuesday, April 24th, Google identified and canceled AdWords accounts displaying ads that re-directed users to malicious sites. These sites attempted to install malware onto users’ computers. This is an issue we’ve taken very seriously and will continue to monitor. We are also evaluating our systems to ensure that the appropriate measures are in place to block future attempts.

Related Topics: Google: AdWords | Legal: Security

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz