When it comes to dangerous domains Hong Kong is the leader according to a new report from McAfee, “Mapping the Mal Web Revisited.”
The report found that 19.2 percent of all Web sites ending in the .hk domain pose some kind of security threat to Internet users. China (.cn) took the second spot with 11 percent.
The most risky generic domain from the 2007 report became more dangerous with 11. 8 percent of all sites ending in .info posing a security threat and is the third most dangerous domain overall. Government Web sites (.gov) remained the safest generic domain name. The most popular domain, .com is the ninth riskiest overall.
Among country domains Romania (.ro) and Russia (.ru) held their positions in the top five most dangerous places with 6.75% and 6% of their Web sites ranked as risky while country domains like Japan (.jp) and Australia (.au) posed little risk.
The report also found the chance of downloading spyware, adware, or viruses from surfing the Web increased 41.5 percent over 2007. Sites which offer downloads such as ringtones and screen savers were found to have an increase in viruses and spyware, up from 3.3 percent last year to 4.7 percent.
“For administrators of top-level domains this study should act as a wake- up call. Last year’s report spurred Tokelau’s domain manager to reexamine its policies,” said Jeff Green, Senior Vice President of Product Development & Avert Labs.
“Not all domain managers are as accommodating so our mission is to educate consumers of the dangers and protect them in every way they enjoy the Web whether through their PC, the Web itself, or mobile phone.”
