McAfee Releases List of Most Perilous Web Domains

After studying over 27 Million general and country Web-domains for browser exploits, malware downloads, pop-ups and phishing, McAfee published a list that displays the most dangerous Web-domains of the world on December 2, 2009.

The security company reports that websites from Cameroon (with domain addresses .cm) are the most perilous globally. Indeed, the website reputation database of McAfee showed that over 50% of Cameroons' websites were performing shady activities like serving spam-spewing or password-stealing programs to visitors.

McAfee further said - since .cm domain is commonly mistaken for .com, numerous cyber criminals establish fraudulent typo-squatting websites which lead to adware, spyware, potentially unwanted programs (PUP) and other malicious downloads.

By loading malware on .cm websites that match with highly accessed .com domains, cyber criminals worldwide are utilizing Cameroon's servers for unleashing "drive-by downloads" to infect PCs of those users who fail to recognize typo-squatting websites. For ex - Imeem.cm designed for enticing people interested in Imeem.com. Such fake domain addresses divert Web-surfers to websites that host spyware and adware.

Following .cm, other country domains most at risk are .cn (China), .su (Soviet Union), .ph (the Philippines) and .ws (Samoa).

On the other side, .jp (Japan) is the least dangerous country domain, occupying a place among the 5 safest domains since 2008. Further, .com (commercial) the domain with the heaviest traffic globally, leaped from No.9 to No.2 position on the list whereas .gov (government) happens to be the most secured non-country domain.

Domain managers of .hk during 2008 took aggressive measures to block malicious registrations; consequently, this domain dropped 33 places from the 2008 risky domains to No.34 during 2009.

Expressing his views on the findings, Mike Gallagher, Chief Technology Officer, McAfee Labs, stated that the report emphasized on how fast cyber criminals jumped to new tricks for enticing maximum number of victims without being exposed. Further, cyber criminals operated from regions where it was inexpensive and easy to register websites, as per the reports published in YourStory on December 2, 2009.

Related article: McAfee Alerts Windows about Accessibility Hole in Vista

» SPAMfighter News - 12/11/2009