Google blacklists ATUG Web site

Hackers may have hit the Australian Telecommunications User Group (ATUG) Web site, according to Google which has placed security threat warnings across all pages displayed in searches.

The flag which reads "this site may harm your computer" underscores all ATUG Web pages and documents generated in Google searches. Google's badware security warning page advises users to avoid the site. ATUG was unaware of the label when contacted by Computerworld magazine this morning.

The blacklists are produced by an alliance of online consumer protection groups, telcos and security vendors including AOL, VeriSign and Google, and stored in a clearinghouse maintained by StopBadware.org, a security watchdog used by Google to identify and evaluate malicious Web sites.