Where is malware hosted?

The results of Sophos research into which countries contain the most malware-hosting websites reveal some significant changes over last year’s top ten list.

China has moved from second place in 2006, when it accounted for just over 30 percent of infected websites, and now dominates the chart, with more than 50 percent of infected websites. Unfortunately whether a website is based in China is not necessarily obvious from its domain name, and so just avoiding websites ending in .cn will not significantly reduce your chances of being attacked by a China-hosted website.

The US has dropped from the top position, where it accounted for 34 percent of malware-infected websites in 2006, and accounts for less than a quarter this past year. Poland is a new addition to this list, with 1 in 100 malicious webpages being hosted there. The Netherlands, which held fourth position in 2006, has managed to drop to tenth place, but still accounts for unusually large number of malicious sites, given its population and infrastructure. Sophos worked with computer crime authorities in The Netherlands last year to help them identify websites hosting malware so that they could be dealt with.

Poland is a new addition to this list, with 1 in 100 malicious webpages being hosted there. The Netherlands, which held fourth position in 2006, has managed to drop to tenth place, but still accounts for unusually large number of malicious sites, given its population and infrastructure. Sophos worked with computer crime authorities in The Netherlands last year to help them identify websites hosting malware so that they could be dealt with.

Source: Sophos Threat Report 2008.