Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT

Beware: Top Ten Riskiest Domains

Thursday, December 03, 2009 by Michael Holley

According to McAfee Labs, the number of annual unique instances of malware increased from less than 100,000 in 2006 to nearly 1.4 million in 2008, and the 2009 figures are on pace to dwarf that figure. In their annual "Mapping the Mal Web" report, McAfee identified the world's riskiest domains by their TLD suffixes. The top five riskiest suffixes for malware sites are:

1. Camaroon (.cm)
2. Generic commercial (.com)
3. China (.cn)
4. Samoa (.ws)
5. Generic informational (.info)

Conversely, the least risky domains are:

1. Generic governmental (.gov)
2. Japan (.jp)
3. Generic educational (.edu)
4. Ireland (.ie)
5. Croatia (.hr)

It makes sense that Camaroon's TDL is a popular one for hackers since it's a plausible misspelling for ".com." Regardless, it's probably a good idea to stay away from any domain ending in ".cm" altogether.

For more statistics and an explanation of McAfee's methodology, read the full report here.

Best,

Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Consulting & Support
Rochester IT Consulting & Support

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