Surfing Web can be dangerous Published Aug. 8, 2008 By Susan Smith Directorate of Communications and Information DENVER -- Surfing the Web in unfamiliar territory can be risky. In the past year, a study by anti-virus software company, McAfee, found a 41.5 percent increase in malicious code compared to 2007. In the past three years, the primary method for the compromise of computers is browser vulnerabilities through code. Not knowing you've entered a site with spyware, adware and viruses ready to propagate, can result in anything from irritating spam to permanently disabling the user's computer. With one-in-five chance of a casual user downloading from a risky .info site, minimizing unnecessary risks requires user discipline. No one wants a system crash, multitude of spam, irritating persistent pop-ups, affiliation with other risky sites, or worse. It's a challenge to control the rapid succession of surfing actions, but being aware of the risks and avoiding those questionable sites are the best bets for not becoming a target of a cyber attack. Before visiting a Web site, be vigilant, know what Web sites are safest and which are riskiest. Domains with .gov are considered to be one of the safest. US (.us) domain is riskiest when assessed from the North, South and Latin America regions, but are still relatively safe to visit. The .com domain is the ninth riskiest in an overall top 20 list. Japan (.jp) and Australia (.au) with more stringent registration procedures are also considered safe. Some of the riskier areas are China (.cn), Hong Kong (.hk) and Romania (.ro).