The practice of establishing AdWords accounts for the purpose of passing clicks through a third-party malware distributor has drawn a blame-the-user response from Google.

It’s no secret that the Internet is rife with phishing and malware sites that look to prey upon unsuspecting web surfers. In a recent study, McAfee decided to take a geographical look at both the safest and riskiest places to surf the web.

About a month ago, Google Image Search started displaying its results a little differently; the makeover yielded a cleaner, but less informative, look. There was a low-level outcry from users, and now things are back to the way they were. That’s all good and well, and an important feature seems to have made it through the shuffle intact.

Google is integrating malware warnings in the search results to warn searchers about risky sites before they go there. In fact, searchers have to work extra hard to get to them.

Results for the phrase "beautiful free screensaver" include a warning with the top result, linking to EliteSavers.com, reading "This site may harm your computer."

Fake video sites and associated downloads look like they will be the proverbial pain in the keyboard for Internet users this year as criminals shift their efforts to them to get malware on computers.

RFID tags may become commonplace in the future, but not a lot of people are looking forward to widespread implementation. There was already concern that these “smart barcodes” would allow consumers’ habits to be more easily tracked, and that the technology could facilitate identity theft. It turns out that RFID tags can transmit computer viruses, as well.

AppSense, a self-proclaimed “leader in endpoint security solutions for the enterprise,” has sponsored a new white paper authored by Kevin Mitnick.

Microsoft says recovery from malware is becoming impossible. Well, duh.

Mistyping a URL in the address bar of a browser can lead to a ring of traffic-stealing “typo-squatters” that ripoff the AdSense for domains system at the expense of Google and its advertisers.

It seems that no sooner do you feel safe turning on your computer than you hear on the news about a new kind of internet security threat. Usually, the security threat is some kind of malware (though the term “security threat” no doubt sells more newspapers).

Warning: most antivirus programs will not protect you against all forms of malignant software (often called “malware”) on their own. Find out how to protect yourself.