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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."

9 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. I am Naga Eboko, exchange student from Cameroon. by fucket · · Score: 4, Funny

    Beef jerky time.

  2. Re:Mistype by DavMz · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have n "" letter n my keybard, yu insensitive cld!

  3. Yes, but... by InspectorxGadget · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...they make those delightful coconut cookies. I think we can forgive them.

    1. Re:Yes, but... by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hate to break it to you, but those ain't coconut cookies that they sent to your browser...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. 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.

  5. Re:Mistype by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    what about .co, .con, .om?

    .co is Colombia, .om is Oman, but .con doesn't exist.

    They don't seem to be high risk websites.

    What is "they" in that sentence, or did you mean "TLDs" instead of "websites"?

    I also wonder whether slashdot.og is infested with viruses.

    .og doesn't exist. You might want to consult a list of TLDs before you ask a bunch of "what about" questions. Or install a robust browser and try to load the url instead of just wondering about it.

  6. Re:Mistype by jrumney · · Score: 4, Informative

    It depends on the policies of the registrar for those top level domains. Some countries allow free for all registration of domain names, others restrict registration to local companies and citizens only. Also many country tlds require specific sub-domains such as .com.co, which reduce the usefulness of those domains for typo-squatters.

  7. Re:Auto-Correcting Domains by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    I knew a guy called Teh but unfortunately Microsoft tools auto correct that to The.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  8. Re:Mistype by grcumb · · Score: 4, Informative

    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

    It hardly matters. What many of the press reports (including El Reg) seem to ignore is the second most risky TLD in the world: .com.

    I'll bet you dollars to donuts that, because of the size and popularity of the TLD, .com is significantly more of a threat to the average Internet user than .cm.

    And while we're at it, how about a link to the actual report? (warning: PDF)

    --
    Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.