McAfee Reveals Riskiest Web Domains

McAfee, the creators of some of the most popular security software available for the PC, has released its updated “Mapping the Mal Web” report that shows which Web TLDs (top-level domains) are the most dangerous in the world, in terms of the likelihood that malware is going to be acquired by visiting a site with said domain. One of the worst is .com, but that’s not much of a surprise.

But the absolute worst wasn’t one of the generic TLD’s, but rather .cm, for Cameroon, with 36.7% of Websites being potentially hazardous to your computer’s health. Ouch… 1/3rd is not a small deal. Unfortunately, .com isn’t much better, with 32.2% of sites having the chance of including malware. Believe it or not, no other domains really come close to this, with the third place going to China’s TLD, .cn, which has a risk factor of 23.4%.

Other TLD’s in the top ten include Samoa’s .ws, the generic .info, Philippines’ .ph, the generic .net, Former Soviet Union’s .su, Russia’s .ru and also Singapore’s .sg. How can you protect yourself from these domains? Well, one way is to make sure you don’t accidentally visit them, because chances are you’ll not have to go to a legit site with most of these domains if you don’t speak the language. But, the domains like .info and .net are of a far greater risk.

For country TLD’s, you could use security software or your router’s admin to block any TLD’s you want. Either or would get the same job done, and make life a little easier on you if you know others in the house have no problem with visiting every random site they see a URL to. Interestingly, McAfee also shows the least-risky domains, and it’s probably no surprise that .gov ranks first there (there -have- been scams performed with .gov addresses in the past, however). The safest Country TLD? Japan’s .jp.

“This report underscores how quickly cybercriminals change tactics to lure in the most victims and avoid being caught. Last year, Hong Kong was the riskiest domain and this year it is dramatically safer,” said Mike Gallagher, chief technology officer for McAfee Labs. “Cybercriminals target regions where registering sites is cheap and convenient, and pose the least risk of being caught.”