McAfee, Yahoo! Partner for Safe Searching

By Neil J. Rubenking
5/6/2008 2:00:00 AM

McAfee and Yahoo! on Tuesday announced the beta launch of SearchScan, a technology designed to make Yahoo! searching safer by warning of dangerous sites before the user even clicks on them.

Powered by the SiteAdvisor technology that McAfee acquired in 2006, SearchScan will offer "always-on" alerts for sites that may pose a security risk. Specifically, it will warn about sites hosting exploits and other hacking risks, sites offering malware downloads and sites that spam visitors.

Where SiteAdvisor functions as a browser add-on to Internet Explorer or Firefox, SearchScan uses the same technology at the search portal itself. That means it will be available even when you're searching from a public computer, one where you don't have permission to install add-ons.

Truly dangerous sites won't even appear in search results, while potentially risk sites will be marked with a red warning sign. Where SiteAdvisor marks safe sites green and "iffy" sites yellow, SearchScan concentrates solely on sites that are actively dangerous.

Even before the actual beta launch, Yahoo!'s help system reveals a bit about how SearchScan will work. As noted, at the default setting it will suppress the most dangerous search links—those that link to pages containing exploits or other hack attacks. Sites hosting malware and sites that may spam you will appear in the results, but with a red warning. Users can choose to block the latter group instead of just displaying warning, or they can turn off the feature entirely.

Since 2006, Google has been inserting warnings about truly malicious sites—the kind that SearchScan would suppress in search results. Google specifically considers a page malicious if it "causes the automatic installation of software without the user's knowledge or consent." Merely risky sites, like those hosting malware and those that may spam visitors, won't be flagged by Google. A partnership with StopBadware.org helps webmasters whose sites have been exploited and offers a review process for owners who question Google's findings.

"Research indicates that 4 out of 5 Web site visits start with a search, and consumers who use Yahoo! Search will now be alerted to high-risk Web sites," said Tim Dowling, McAfee's vice president for Web security.

You won't have to do a thing to see SearchScan in action—just make your searches on Yahoo! as usual. According to Yahoo!'s Sheila Tran the beta period's duration hasn't been determined; it will depend quite a bit on user feedback. But it will have an end, unlike some other projects (read: Gmail) you'll find on the Web.

Updated on 5/6/08 2:11 pm to clarify the StopBadware.org partnership.