Yahoo Uses McAfee to Make Searches Safer

Yahoo's new SearchScan feature uses McAfee's SiteAdvisor technology to warn users about potentially risky Web sites that might appear in Yahoo search results listings.

Yahoo has announced a new SearchScan feature that warns users about potentially risky Web sites that might appear in Yahoo search results listings before users click through to the sites. The feature is based on McAfee’s SiteAdvisor technology, which is available as a free add-on for Internet Explorer and Windows versions of Firefox; however, by integrating the technology into its search engine service, yahoo makes the site-vetting technology available to all Yahoo users, regardless of browser or platform.

“No other search engine today offers this level of warning before visiting sites that can damage or infect a user’s PC and cost them valuable time and money,” said Yahoo Search’s senior VP and general manager Vish Makhijani, in a statement. “Through this partnership with McAfee, we can offer users a safer search experience and drive more users to make Yahoo Search their starting point on the Web.”

Sites that the service deems potentialy risky are flagged with a red warning in Yahoo’s search results listings. Right now, the service does not include all possible McAfee SiteAdvisor warnings, but focuses on warnings “optimal” for a Yahoo Search user. SearchScan has been implemented on Yahoo’s Internet search capabilities in the U.S., Canada, France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain; it’s a separate feature from Yahoo’s Safe Search, which is intended to filter out objectionable and adult content from search results. Yahoo plans to roll SearchScan out to Yahoo’s Asian and Latin American services next, and eventually integrate the service in all countries where it operates.

Financial terms of the partnership between McAfee and Yahoo were not disclosed, but the companies have said the agreement is an exclusive multi-year, global deal which also involves bringing Yahoo Search to McAfee users.