I guess Google wasn’t kidding when they decided to step up their game against malicious websites. Today the search company launched a new blog called, fittingly, Google Online Security Blog. In the first post to the new blog, two members of the Anti-Malware Team look at some recent data gleaned from an in-depth study Google conducted on the prevalence of “drive-by” malware on the net.

Of particular note:

• Earlier reports that 1 in 10 sites were infected with malware were misconstrued. The actual percentage is closer to 0.1%
• China, The United States, Russia, Germany and Canada seem to have the highest numbers of compromised websites
• China, The United States, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Canada, and several European countries seem to house the most malware distribution servers

So what else is Google doing about security issues on the Internet?

For some time now Google has been flagging results in their search index that link to known (or suspected) malware distributing websites. Large warning messages appear when those results are clicked and users must manually enter the website address into their web browsers to continue.

In addition, webmasters with sites that have been flagged are being alerted in Google’s Webmaster Tools dashboard. The alerts - which can only be accessed via Webmaster Tools - tell you what was flagged and what you should do about it.

As we’ve discussed before, there have been some problems with the current system. More than a few webmasters have reported being falsely flagged. The warning to searchers not only curtails search engine traffic, but it also hurts the reputation of legitimate websites who may be unknowingly infected.

But it’s a fine line. On one hand Google can hardly send people to websites that might infect their computers with malware. But on the other hand, Google needs to make sure it’s not flagging sites incorrectly.

What do you think? What’s more important: alerting users to possible problems or investing the time and resources into confirmation before labeling a site as a malware distributor?