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Cameroon the New Hotbed of Malware

Posted by samzenpus on from the none-more-infected dept.

garg0yle writes "According to McAfee, more than a third of Cameroon domains (TLD of .cm) are infested with viruses or other not-so-fun party treats. Given that it's very easy to mis-type .com as .cm, this puts the computers of a lot of fat-fingered typists in peril. Second place on the most-infested domains list goes to China (.cn), while Hong Kong (last year's 'winner') is now comfortably middle-of-the-pack."

6 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Mistype by Lunoria · · Score: 1, Insightful

    While I can believe that .cm is a mistype for .com, what about .co, .con, .om? They don't seem to be high risk websites. I also bet that .con is a more common mistype than .cm I also wonder whether slashdot.og is infested with viruses.

  2. Wouldn't it be safer to... by Antony-Kyre · · Score: 3, Insightful

    to just block the whole Net? That way, you can't visit any website, thus avoid all websites hosting malware. Either that or have a patched, updated browser, and use smart surfing habits.

    1. Re:Wouldn't it be safer to... by mysidia · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Blocking .cm can be a helpful step, because it blocks a portion of the hostnames that (A) if you visit has a very high probability of infecting you, and (B) that an intentional visit to is unlikely.

      So you can block .cm with a notable increase in safety, with a minimal decrease in usefulnes of your internet access.

      The same could not be said of blocking the whole net. Blocking the whole net reduces the utility of your network connection, since it means you can no longer navigate to the sites that you do want to, with high probability.

  3. stuck key by wizardforce · · Score: 2, Insightful

    typing *.cm instead of .com is as simple as having an o key that gets stuck occasionally and not noticing the typo. All it takes is a keyboard that needs a good cleaning and a user that isn't paying enough attention.

    --
    Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
  4. In any case... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In any case, if (as the article claims) one third of Cameroon domains host malware, the implication is that two thirds don't. I would be very curious to know what percentage of US domains host malware.

    Regardless of the answer, the appropriate response is to use a robust browser and block individual sites, not block out whole nations. Otherwise one might just as well move to China.

  5. Re:Auto-Correcting Domains by Tynin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe because it is a world wide web, and some people who live in the US may not have as limited of interests as you?