The tactics used to distribute malware on the Web are changing dramatically, showing how quickly cyber criminals change strategy to hook the most victims and avoid detection.
This is according to McAfee's third annual 'Mapping the Mal Web' report, which shows Africa's Cameroon (.cm) domain has overthrown Hong Kong's (.hk) as the Web's riskiest domain to access.
"Last year, Hong Kong was the riskiest domain and this year it is dramatically safer," says Jayson O'Reilly, regional manager for Africa at McAfee. "Cyber criminals target regions where registering sites is cheap and convenient and pose the least risk of being caught."
He adds that Cameroon's .cm domain is a common typo for the .com domain, and as such cyber criminals are setting up fake sites that lead to malicious downloads, spyware, adware and other unwanted programs.
Risk ratings
The findings indicate that of the 27 million Web sites and 104 top-level domains McAfee rated, 5.8% pose a security risk to account for 1.5 million risky Web sites.
The Asia-Pacific Web domains have a higher threat ratio, with 13% of its sites posing a threat. The People's Republic of China (.cn) and Samoa (.ws) are still among the top five most dangerous sites.
McAfee used its SiteAdvisor technology and data from its TrustedSource technology to calculate a weighted risk ratio for the Web domains. It tested for browser exploits, phishing, excessive pop-ups and malicious downloads to give the sites a fail rating.
Safe side
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the report highlights Ireland's .ie domain as the world's safest, with a 0.1% risk factor. Japan's .jp domain has been ranked in the top five safest domains, for the second year in a row.
"It's not always easy for computer users to identify what's safe and what's not," says O'Reilly. McAfee security experts urge consumers to buy comprehensive security software, and keep their subscriptions current.
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