Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Google Blog: Global Worming

Google Blog: Global Worming "Okay, folks, we know what you're thinking.
So Google got hacked, huh?
Actually, we didn't. What happened yesterday was that someone sent the latest version of the MyDoom computer virus out for a spin, and this version flooded search engines like ours with automated searches. Fortunately, we were able to quickly identify those queries and block them, so that, for most of our users, at no point was our site significantly impaired.
Then why did some people get error messages when they tried to do searches?
A very small percentage of our users and networks--most notably, a few media outlets that write about us--were heavily infected with MyDoom, so our systems temporarily blocked their queries. By noon, service for all our users had been completely restored.
What was up with that "Error-27" page?
Yeah, we've just learned that our error message for blocked queries isn't the friendliest or most informative communication we've ever had with our users. Hey, we didn't think we'd ever have to show it to anyone..."

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