Google Warning Looks Like Scareware, But It’s Real

After all my warnings about scareware, Google comes along with a warning on its search results pages that many of you might believe is scareware, but it’s not – it’s real.

Google Malware Warning

According to Google’s Online Security Blog

This particular malware causes infected computers to send traffic to Google through a small number of intermediary servers called “proxies.” We hope that by taking steps to notify users whose traffic is coming through these proxies, we can help them update their antivirus software and remove the infections.

This malware is actually a result of scareware, or fake anti-virus software that infects computers. And, Google admits, there may be a whole new slew of fake scareware ads that look like the Google warning. A valid Google warning will only be seen at the top of a search results page.

So, if you see this warning it’s time to run an AV scan. You do have anti-virus installed, right? And it’s up-to-date, right? If not, Google will even help you at their Help Center.