Dirtiest Websites are filthy in more ways than one

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 20 August 2009 05:41

Business IT - Security

Conventional wisdom says that visiting smutty sites is likely to result in a dose of malware. Symantec's list of the Dirtiest Websites of Winter 2009 bears that out - but it's not quite that simple.

Symantec has used its Norton Safe Web service to create a list of the Dirtiest Websites of Winter 2009, using the number of threats found on the sites as the entry criterion.

Almost half of the Dirtiest Websites provide so-called adult content, a finding that gives credence to the conventional wisdom. But the remaining 52% of the sites on the list deal with all sorts of topics.

Symantec officials point out that the average number of threats found on sites featured in the Dirtiest Websites list is 18,000, and that 40% of the sites each contain more than 20,000 threats.

While some of the sites may have been deliberately booby-trapped by their operators, it seems likely that others have been subverted by outside attackers.

Even if you want to give operators the benefit of the doubt, you would probably conclude that many are being slack about protecting and maintaining their sites, as 75% of the list have been distributing malware for more than six months.

"This list underscores what our research shows; there has been exponential growth in the number of online threats that are constantly evolving as cybercriminals look for new ways to target your money, identity or assets," said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president of Symantec's consumer business unit.

"In 2008, most new infections occurred while people were surfing the Web," he added.