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McAfee maps out malware axis-of-evil
Romania (.ro), Russia (.ru) and China (.cn) are amongst the most dangerous large country-level domains to visit while Web surfing, according to a new report from McAfee. The most dangerous generic domain is .info.
According to the Mapping the Mal Web report, 5.6% of .ro sites, 4.5% of .ru sites, and 3.7% of .cn sites are risky when it comes to spyware, viruses, exploits, spammy e-mail, excessive pop-ups or strong affiliations with other risky sites. Slovakian (.sk) sites also did poorly, with 3.9% considered risky.
With .info domains, 7.5% sites were rated as risky. Interestingly, .com, which was considered a generic domain name for the purpose of test, came second after .info, with 5.5% of .com sites considered risky.
The honor of being the most risky domain went to the tiny island of Tokelau (.tk) where 10.1% of sites failed McAfees safety test. Samoa also did poorly, with 5.8% of its sites considered risky.
The only domain name with no risky sites was .gov, which can only be used by US Government agencies. Finland (0.10%), Norway (.no, 0.16%) and Sweden (.se, 0.21%). Iceland (.is, 0.19%) and Ireland (.ie, 0.11%) were the top five least risky country domains
For the report McAfee analyzed and ranked 265 top-level domains like Japan (.jp), France (.fr) and Commercial (.com) based on McAfeeâs Web safety tests for spyware, spam, exploits and scams. McAfee estimates that each month Internet users make more than 550 million clicks to risky Web sites and that even relatively safe domains like Germany (.de) or the United Kingdom (.uk) account for millions of risky clicks.
âWhen it comes to safety, it turns out that the Web is no different than the physical world. There are safe neighborhoods and safe Web domains, and then there are places no one should ever visit,â said Mark Maxwell, Senior Product Manager, McAfee Consumer and Small Business.
âFor administrators of top-level domains, this study should serve as a wake-up call. Clearly, some countries are getting it right. And the more risky top level domains now have the role models they need to improve. For consumers, this study is a stark reminder that they need help navigating the Web safely. Tools like McAfee SiteAdvisor (see below) give consumers the information they need, when they need it, to make safer Web decisions.â
According to the report, some Web activities, like registering at a site or downloading a file, are significantly more risky when done at certain domains. For example, giving an e-mail address to a random .info domain results in a stunning 73.2% chance of receiving spammy e-mail.
Low or no cost domain registration and minimal domain oversight appear to drive at least some of the higher levels of risk found at some top-level domains.
For example, one reason the .biz domain may be preferred by spammers is because .biz domains are available for immediate use, rather than after a typical 24 hour waiting period - a critical advantage in beating anti-spam services and blacklists.
McAfee SiteAdvisor, a free tool available at http://www.mcafee.com, adds red, yellow, or green ratings to sites and search results based on proprietary tests of millions of Web sites representing more than 95% of the trafficked Web. Red ratings are given to risky sites that fail one or more of McAfeeâs tests for adware, spyware, viruses, exploits, spammy e-mail, excessive pop-ups or strong affiliations with other red-rated sites. Green- rated sites passed each of these tests. Yellow ratings are given to sites which pass McAfeeâs safety tests but which still have nuisances, such as excessive pop-ups, warranting a user advisory.
Source: http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20...-axis-of-evil/
Romania (.ro), Russia (.ru) and China (.cn) are amongst the most dangerous large country-level domains to visit while Web surfing, according to a new report from McAfee. The most dangerous generic domain is .info.
According to the Mapping the Mal Web report, 5.6% of .ro sites, 4.5% of .ru sites, and 3.7% of .cn sites are risky when it comes to spyware, viruses, exploits, spammy e-mail, excessive pop-ups or strong affiliations with other risky sites. Slovakian (.sk) sites also did poorly, with 3.9% considered risky.
With .info domains, 7.5% sites were rated as risky. Interestingly, .com, which was considered a generic domain name for the purpose of test, came second after .info, with 5.5% of .com sites considered risky.
The honor of being the most risky domain went to the tiny island of Tokelau (.tk) where 10.1% of sites failed McAfees safety test. Samoa also did poorly, with 5.8% of its sites considered risky.
The only domain name with no risky sites was .gov, which can only be used by US Government agencies. Finland (0.10%), Norway (.no, 0.16%) and Sweden (.se, 0.21%). Iceland (.is, 0.19%) and Ireland (.ie, 0.11%) were the top five least risky country domains
For the report McAfee analyzed and ranked 265 top-level domains like Japan (.jp), France (.fr) and Commercial (.com) based on McAfeeâs Web safety tests for spyware, spam, exploits and scams. McAfee estimates that each month Internet users make more than 550 million clicks to risky Web sites and that even relatively safe domains like Germany (.de) or the United Kingdom (.uk) account for millions of risky clicks.
âWhen it comes to safety, it turns out that the Web is no different than the physical world. There are safe neighborhoods and safe Web domains, and then there are places no one should ever visit,â said Mark Maxwell, Senior Product Manager, McAfee Consumer and Small Business.
âFor administrators of top-level domains, this study should serve as a wake-up call. Clearly, some countries are getting it right. And the more risky top level domains now have the role models they need to improve. For consumers, this study is a stark reminder that they need help navigating the Web safely. Tools like McAfee SiteAdvisor (see below) give consumers the information they need, when they need it, to make safer Web decisions.â
According to the report, some Web activities, like registering at a site or downloading a file, are significantly more risky when done at certain domains. For example, giving an e-mail address to a random .info domain results in a stunning 73.2% chance of receiving spammy e-mail.
Low or no cost domain registration and minimal domain oversight appear to drive at least some of the higher levels of risk found at some top-level domains.
For example, one reason the .biz domain may be preferred by spammers is because .biz domains are available for immediate use, rather than after a typical 24 hour waiting period - a critical advantage in beating anti-spam services and blacklists.
McAfee SiteAdvisor, a free tool available at http://www.mcafee.com, adds red, yellow, or green ratings to sites and search results based on proprietary tests of millions of Web sites representing more than 95% of the trafficked Web. Red ratings are given to risky sites that fail one or more of McAfeeâs tests for adware, spyware, viruses, exploits, spammy e-mail, excessive pop-ups or strong affiliations with other red-rated sites. Green- rated sites passed each of these tests. Yellow ratings are given to sites which pass McAfeeâs safety tests but which still have nuisances, such as excessive pop-ups, warranting a user advisory.
Source: http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20...-axis-of-evil/
