McAfee Names the Riskiest Domains on the Web - Other Findings

McAfee’s 2009 report doesn’t just identify the riskiest domain names. As mentioned previously, one of the best things you can do to avoid risky domains is know where the already-existing risks are moving.

It was pointed out how difficult--if not impossible--that would be for the average Internet user, but thankfully it’s more than possible for McAfee. Mapping the Mal found that many of the most annoying tactics by cyber criminals are actually on the decline.

For example, the report found that your risk of registering your e-mail address at a website and then receiving spam has reduced this year. According to the security company, of the more than 330,000 domains they tested requiring an e-mail address, just about 3 percent delivered spam; last year it was nearly 8 percent.

Keep in mind that you should still should still show caution when registering your personal e-mail address at sites because, according to McAfee, it’s not the actual volume of spam that’s decreased, but rather the number of sites with spam-sending sign-ups.

Thankfully, websites featuring downloads that contain harmful viruses, spyware, and adware also decreased from last year. Of the 690,000 sites McAfee tested for downloads, just 4.5 percent of them could be described as “risky;” last year it was 4.7 percent. It’s not a major decrease, but a decrease nonetheless. Let’s hope that next year these numbers keep plummeting.