If you’re eager to expand your Internet experience and sample Web sites beyond those ending in .com, then wander free, great online explorer. But, be warned, such expeditions into the vast unknown could hold more threat than promise.
Avoid dodgy Macaroon site addresses at all costs! Image: norwichnut/Flickr.
More pointedly, online security specialist McAfee has revealed that around one third of all Web sites in the West African nation of Cameroon carry a security risk for those who visit them, thanks to the criminal potential of the country’s .cm address.
McAfee has issued its cautionary report due to .com surfers mistyping their Web address, unwittingly landing on a .cm page, before falling foul of a faked and possibly malicious site created to look much like the real .com destination they were aiming for.
Although only 688,861 of the 27 million sites surveyed by McAfee were hosted in Cameroon, almost 37 percent of them were found to pose a threat to Web surfers through the likes of spyware and adware.
Online users undeterred by the possible pitfalls of straying from the familiar in order to test their cultural and/or language skills, would be well advised to try addresses such as .jp (Japan), .ie (Ireland) and .hr (Croatia) – all of which were found to be amongst the safest online.
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