Cameroon has riskiest domain extension

04/12/2009 15:13

afrol News, 3 December - A security firm, McAfee has issued a warning over Cameroon domains extension saying they are most likely to infect users' computers with malware.

According to McAfee's annual study on the web's riskiest recesses, Cameroonian domains are most likely to have been corrupted by hackers and other criminals using the domain.

The McAfee report said criminals are taking advantage of the domain extension's spelling similarity to the popular .com, in hopes users mistype the URL they actually want to reach and instead surf to sites pushing malware.

Researchers studied some 27 million websites as part of their analysis and determined that 5.8 percent, or roughly 1.5 million sites, pose a risk.

The report said some 36.7 percent of websites rooted in the African nation are said to pose security risks to viewers.

Websites ending in .com came out as the second most risky domains in 2009, moving up from the ninth spot last year.

McAfee analysed 27 million websites and 104 top-level domains using its SiteAdvisor and TrustedSource technology in compiling its report. SiteAdvisor tests websites for browser exploits, pushing, excessive pop-ups and malicious downloads, while TrustedSource offers a reputation system that tracks web traffic patterns, site behaviour, hosted content and more, to gauge site security risks.

McAfee's third annual Mapping the Mal Web report names Irish (.ie) sites as the safest. Japanese (.jp) sites are ranking lower in risk globally. British websites hold a relatively safe berth, appearing in 55th place on McAfee's list of shame.

By staff writer