McAfee, Inc. Reveals the Riskiest Web Domains to Surf and Search

Africa’s Cameroon (.cm) has overthrown Hong Kong (.hk) as the Web’s riskiest domain, according to McAfee’s (NYSE:MFE) third annual Mapping the Mal Web report, released today. At the opposite end, Japan (.jp) is the safest country domain, landing in the top five safest domains for the second year in a row. The most heavily trafficked Web domain in the world, commercial (.com), jumped from the ninth to second most dangerous domain, while government (.gov) is the safest non-country domain.

"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.”

Cameroon, a small African country that borders Nigeria, jumped to the number one spot this year with 36.7 percent of the .cm domain posing a security risk, but did not even make the list last year. Because the domain .cm is a common typo for .com, many cybercriminals set up fake typo-squatting sites that lead to malicious downloads, spyware, adware and other potentially unwanted programs.

Following aggressive measures from .hk’s domain managers to clamp down on scam-related registrations last year, Hong Kong fell 33 spots from the most risky domain in 2008 to the 34th most risky domain in 2009. Now only 1.1 percent of .hk sites pose a risk, whereas last year nearly one in five .hk Web sites were risky.

Among country domains, the People’s Republic of China (.cn) and Samoa (.ws) remained in the top five most dangerous places in the last two years.

Additional findings from the 2009 Mapping the Mal Web report include:

• Of the 27 million Web sites and 104 top-level domains McAfee rated for this report, 5.8 percent pose a security risk – that is more than 1.5 million risky Web sites
• Sites registered to the Asia-Pacific Web domains are significantly riskier than the overall Web with 13 percent of sites posing a threat. This region includes the second riskiest domain with the People’s Republic of China (.cn), and also, ironically, the safest Web domain with Japan (.jp)
• Ireland (.ie) is Europe’s safest Web domain with only .1 percent risky sites

Using the award-winning McAfee® SiteAdvisor® technology and data from McAfee® TrustedSource™ technology, McAfee analyzed more than 27 million country and generic Web domains and calculated a weighted risk ratio. McAfee SiteAdvisor tests Web sites for browser exploits, phishing, excessive pop-ups and malicious downloads and gives sites that fail a rating. McAfee TrustedSource technology is a comprehensive Internet reputation system that analyzes Web traffic patterns, site behavior, hosted content, and more, to provide insight into site security risk.

"It’s not always easy for computer users to identify what’s safe and what’s not,” said Gallagher. "Reports like this and tools like McAfee SiteAdvisor, which is incorporated into all of McAfee’s consumer security suites, can be the compass people need to navigate the Web.”

McAfee security experts urge consumers to buy comprehensive security software such as McAfee® Total Protection, McAfee® Internet Security and McAfee® AntiVirus Plus, and keep their subscriptions current. McAfee SiteAdvisor is incorporated in each of McAfee’s product suites, so consumers can practice safe surfing through intuitive red, yellow and green rating icons to indicate a Web site’s risk level and reputation before the site is even accessed.

For more information on McAfee’s 2009 Mapping the Mal Web report including the full report, please visit www.mcafee.com/safe-searching.

McAfee SiteAdvisor Technology

McAfee SiteAdvisor technology tests and rates, on an ongoing basis, nearly every trafficked site on the Internet. SiteAdvisor site ratings are created by using patented advanced technology to conduct automated Web site tests. The McAfee SiteAdvisor software can be downloaded quickly and for free at www.mcafee.com/siteadvisor. McAfee SiteAdvisor software works with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

SiteAdvisor has received numerous honors, including: five-star reviews from CNET's download.com, TIME Magazine’s "50 Coolest Web Sites," Popular Science’s "Best of What’s New" and the U.S. Department of Commerce's "Recognition of Excellence in Innovation" honor.

McAfee TrustedSource Technology

McAfee's TrustedSource is a global threat correlation engine that receives and analyzes billions of queries per month from McAfee's network of sensors deployed to protect consumer and enterprise network traffic across 120 countries globally, collecting and correlating reputation data for URLs, IP addresses, domains and content. TrustedSource assigns a reputation score and further classifies network identities and content with a risk level based on an in-depth highly sophisticated analysis by processing thousands of behavior attributes to profile each network traffic sender, Web site, domain or content. TrustedSource is the first and only reputation system to combine traffic data, whitelists, blacklists and network characteristics with the unparalleled breadth of McAfee's global customer base.

About McAfee, Inc.

McAfee, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is the world's largest dedicated security technology company. McAfee is committed to relentlessly tackling the world's toughest security challenges. The company delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that help secure systems and networks around the world, allowing users to safely connect to the Internet, browse and shop the Web more securely. Backed by an award-winning research team, McAfee creates innovative products that empower home users, businesses, the public sector and service providers by enabling them to prove compliance with regulations, protect data, prevent disruptions, identify vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor and improve their security. http://www.mcafee.com

McAfee, SiteAdvisor and TrustedSource are registered trademarks or trademarks of McAfee, Inc., or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. © 2008 McAfee, Inc. All rights reserved.

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