03.11 PM, PST: Looks like we are having a Google outage - apparently someone has hijacked their Domain, and something called SoGoSearch is showing up instead. GMail was down as well. Google ads are not being served up as well. Am I the only one, or did you guys feel the webquake as well? Man if this is a hack, then we now know nothing - not even god, I mean Google is safe! Is this someone’s idea of teaching them a lesson? Or has the Web Accelerator shown its true colors? Lots of unanswered questions. Here is a screen grab by the way!
Update #1: Some people say they have it back, but I am still having trouble logging in to my Gmail. And still not getting Google homepage. I have left voice mail and sent emails to Google’s PR people and their hotline. Not sure, what’s going on precisely but will be on the story.
Update #2: Some people are saying in the comments here and over at [rank=www.engadget.com/entry/1234000610042620]Engadget[/rank], that Google might have been in middle of a DNS software switch. I still can’t believe that a strange image would just show up there.
Update #3: David Krane, the big cheese @ Google PR wrote back a few seconds ago and had this to add, “Google’s global properties were unavailable for a short period of time earlier today. We’ve remedied the problem and access to Google has been restored worldwide.â€
Update # 4: More from Mr. Krane of Google: BTW, this was not the result of a hack or any kind of security issue. “Yes, it was a DNS issue. We’re seeing things as fully restored as of more than 30 min. ago. You’re the first to send such a screen shot and report this kind of issue. I’ll bounce it to the tech staff and will keep you posted.†I got another [rank=www.gigaom.com/images/googleproblems.gif]screenshot which was as of 5.08 PM PST.[/rank] Not sure if I am having this problem in specific or others noticing the same issue. I use comcast as broadband provider. Any updates people?
Update #5: Everything back to normal. All Google services are working. Though as an aside, Google has reached the full capacity for its Web Accelerator Beta.
Update #6: [rank=img179.echo.cx/img179/7959/googlehacked7to.jpg]Yet another screen shot[/rank]. [rank=img241.echo.cx/img241/6208/googlemsn3lp.png]And another one[/rank], plus looks like someone swiped [rank=hbarbobot.kicks-ass.net/?p=42]the domain name.[/rank] Larry Magid was on the local CBS radio [rank=www.pcanswer.com/audio/kcbs_google_down.mp3]talking about the Google’s great vanishing trick.[/rank]
Recap: 6:13PM PST: Google was not hacked, but instead had a DNS problem. For some readers the site was redirecting to the SoGoSearch page. That continues to fox me, and I plan to investigate further. All services have been restored. I find it amazing: Google is now as integrated in our lives as a phone company, or heaven forbid, TV networks.
[RANK="www.gigaom.com/2005/05/07/google-hacked/"]Source[/RANK]