Readers of Google's Custom Search Blog were handed a bit of a surprise Tuesday when the Web site was temporarily removed from the blogosphere and hijacked by someone unaffiliated with the company.

The problem? Google had mistakenly identified its own blog as a spammer's site and handed it over to another person.

The change was first noticed by the Google Blogoscoped Web site, which noticed that posts on the Custom Search Blog had been deleted and replaced by a strange comment from someone identifying himself as Srikanth.

"Google Custom Search, is the wonderful product from Google which many webmasters have been looking and dream for," Srikanth wrote. " Also Google Custom Search is integrated with Ad-sense, which means make money while keeping users on your site for longer time with custom search engine.... Good Luck for all the Custom Search customers(??)."

This blog typically offers tips and tricks for users of Google's Custom Search Engine software, which can be used to build customized Web sites that search specific Web sites or pages.

Srikanth's tone was obviously out of character for an official Google blog, prompting Google Blogoscoped to speculate that the site may have been hacked.

The answer turned out to be less sinister, according to Sean Carlson, a Google spokesman.

"Blogger's spam classifier misidentified the Custom Search Blog as spam," he said via e-mail on Wednesday. Typically Google notifies blog owners when it has spotted content associated with spam on their Web sites to give them a chance to clear up any misunderstandings.

However, that didn't work out in this case. "The Custom Search Blog bloggers overlooked their notification, and after a period of time passed, the blog was disabled."

When blogs are disabled like this, their URL becomes available to the general public. That's when Srikanth swooped in and wrote the joke post.

"It was a case of "URL squatting" and not a security issue or any kind of hack," Carlson said.

Google quickly realized its mistake and the Custom Search Blog is now back in action.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

Whitepapers

• The Trend from UNIX to Linux in SAP(r) Data Centers
• Getting in Compliance With Government Data Regulations By Leveraging Online Security Technology
• How to Offer the Strongest SSL Encryption
• Maximizing Site Visitor Trust Using Extended Validation SSL
• Seven Steps to Reducing your Security Risk
• The Latest Advancements in SSL Technology

View more SECURITY whitepapers

Webcasts

• The Secure Web Gateway. Mission Critical For Business - Webcast
• Mobile Data Security
• Best Practices for Deploying WAN Optimization for Disaster Recovery
• Key Considerations for a Successful 802.11n Deployment
• Solutions to the Toughest IT Challenges in Remote Offices
• Lowering the Cost of Email Archives

View more SECURITY webcasts

Special Reports

• The Evolution of Network Security
• Taking Virtualization Up a Notch
• The self-managed network

View more SECURITY special reports