Study reveals online trouble spots

It emerged on 14 March that a detailed study of 265 top-level domains (TLDs) has shown that 4.1% of all websites can expose users’ terminals to a range of risks. These risks are typified by the most prevalent strains of ‘malware’ – short for malicious software – such as Trojan horse programs, viruses, spyware, adware and phishing functions (click here for a previous article on phishing).

The study was conducted in a series of scans by the Californian virus specialists, McAfee Associates, who tabled their results according to the amount of malicious code detected in a cross-section of websites from each domain. Finland (.fi), Sweden (.se), Iceland (.is), Ireland (.ie) and Norway (.no) were found to be the ‘cleanest’ country codes, with Singapore (.sg), Australia (.au) and Canada (.ca) not far behind. Only one TLD was certified as spotless: the ‘.gov’ code used by the United States government.

In the virtual sin-bin were Russia (.ru) and Romania (.ro), the codes that were found to be most likely to carry exploitative programs. A handful of Slavic and Polynesian domains were similarly censured. Also criticised was the generic ‘.info’ code – home to many fan sites, non-corporate organisations and discussion boards. The study determined that there was a 73.2% chance of receiving spam as a result of sending a personal email address to a random .info site.

McAfee spokesman, Mark Maxwell, said: ‘There is a direct correlation between the risk of the TLD and the hoops or barriers through which an individual has to go to register a domain.’ He added: ‘For 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.

‘When it comes to safety, it turns out that the web is no different than the physical world. There are safe neighbourhoods and safe web domains, and then there are places no one should ever visit.’