Microsoft’s Phishing Filter Blacklists the U.K.

An overnight update resulted in Microsoft’s SmartScreen Filter labeling every uk.com site as malicious and blocking them. Anyone trying to access the site was greeted with a bright red screen informing them that the site had been reported as dangerous.

ISPs in the UK were flooded with calls from alarmed and angry customers, creating a huge hassle. The Smartscreen Filter is built into IE 7 and 8. While many of the sites have been unblocked, many more still remain blocked with the false message that they’ve been reported as malicious.

          “The most likely explanation is that a genuinely unsafe website under one of our suffixes was reported to Microsoft, but they incorrectly added all the domains under that suffix to their list of unsafe websites.

“If you are a domain registrant whose website is affected, you can click on the ‘More information’ link, then the ‘Report that this site does not contain threats’ link, and report that your website is safe to Microsoft” said a statement from CentralNic, registrar for uk.com domain names.

This isn’t the first time a false alarm has been so widespread. Last month a blundered AVG update resulted in iTunes files being flagged as viruses and the program blocked, and earlier this year a glitch attributed to “human error” resulted in Google flagging every single website on the web as malicious.

If you were or still are affected by this issue, please leave a comment and let us know!