Top 9 RISKIEST Places To Surf Internet

[TampaYankee]

Turkey and Russia Feature the Worlds Riskiest Web Surfers

AVG study looks at the safest and most dangerous places to surf the Internet - Australia No. 37th and New Zealand No. 63rd riskiest

Melbourne and Amsterdam, 24 August 2010. Where in the world are you most likely to be hit by a malicious computer attack or virus? According to Internet Security company AVG Technologies, its the Caucasus region, with web surfers in Turkey, Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan all being the most likely to face threats while online.

However, at the other end of the scale, some of the worlds safest surfers can be found in Japan and Taiwan, while seven of the 10 safest countries in which to surf the Internet are in Africa. As a continent, South America was safest, and North America riskiest. Meanwhile, globally your chances of being attacked while online on any given day are 1 in 73.

By compiling data for 144 countries (including Australia and New Zealand), involving 127 million PCs, AVG was able to look at the incidence of security threats that its software had to deal with in the last week of July 2010. From these figures, AVG was able to average out the likelihood of the average web user facing a web security attack. Key results are as follows:

Turkey leads the league table for the worlds riskiest web surfers, with AVGs software having to step in to protect one in 10 using the Internet. Web users in Russia (1 in 14 were hit), Armenia (1 in 24), and Azerbaijan (1 in 39) also suffer high rates of attacks.

Other areas where web surfers are disproportionately at risk include Bangladesh (1 in 41), Pakistan (1 in 48) and in SE Asia, Vietnam and Laos (where the chances of facing an attack are both 1 in 42).

Closer to home Australia ranked 37th (1 in 75 attack ratio), while New Zealand came in at 63rd (1 in 103).

What about other major Western countries? The US is at number nine when it comes to the riskiest places to go online (1 in 48), UK is ranked 31st (1 in 63), while German web surfers come in at number 41 (1 in 83).

However, other major developed nations fared much better with web surfers steering clear of suspicious websites. Though Sierra Leone (1 in 692) and Niger (1 in 442) were safer, if you look at broadband penetration in these countries as well as overall Internet use, surfing the web in Japan (1 in 404 attacked) arguably offers the safest experience.

Meanwhile Taiwan (1 in 248 attacked), Argentina (1 in 241 attacked), and France (1 in 224 attacked) all came in the top 20 list of the worlds safest surfers.

South America and Africa 'Safe'

Analysing the data by continent, your chances of getting attacked while surfing the web in North America are 1 in 51. In Europe it is 1 in 72, while in Asia (including Asia Pacific) it is 1 in 102. The safest continents are Africa (1 in 108), and by a long way South America (1 in 164).

While African countries make up seven of the top 10 safe surfing list, its noteworthy that the chances of being attacked in all South American countries is more than 1 in 100. The riskiest country in South America was Peru at 1 in 131, which globally still only ranks 78th out of 142 countries.

AVG Urges Travellers to Keep Safe

According to AVG spokesperson, Roger Thomson, "This research tells us a lot about the typical behaviour of web surfers worldwide. Internet users in Turkey, Russia and some Central Asian countries, the Caucasus, South-east Asian and Indian sub-continent states show disproportionately higher rates of being attacked than the global average of 1 in 73.

"Some of this may be a tendency to access semi-legal or illegal download sites, while some of it probably is down to being less cautious when it comes to sharing links and files online. For example, its worth noting that in Japan where both Internet use and broadband penetration are high, AVG software only picked up a web attack for every 403rd user. Awareness levels in Japan about risky behaviour online are probably higher.

"However, our research should also serve as a wake-up call to people going abroad. Very often you may access your files on a computer that doesnt belong to you, or you may access a shared network - neither of which incidentally are things we would ever recommend.

"In those cases, we would urge that web users exercise caution, not only when it comes to going online in our top 50 risk list, but in general.

"Finally the key point is that all these web attacks were successfully caught and stopped by AVG. Even the global average of facing a 1 in 133 attack on any given day does not present great odds if averaged out across a year. Hence the importance of making sure that your computer really does have the right anti-virus software installed," Thomson concluded.

See original article at:

http://www.avg.com.au/news/avg_turkey_and_russia_the_worlds_riskiest_web_surfers/#ixzz0xpGfcgYs

[Guest zipperzone]

I use an Apple i-mac. I've been told that with this computer there is no need for anti-virus softwear such as Norton. Do others agree or am I just being foolish/stupid?

[TampaYankee]

I use an Apple i-mac. I've been told that with this computer there is no need for anti-virus softwear such as Norton. Do others agree or am I just being foolish/stupid?

Never say never. While Macs have a lower probability of attack presently, that may not always be the case. If you use your computer for buiness and banking then I would be very circumspect where I'd go, even with a Mac. This is because the potential for damage is so very great. Just as one has separate identities for surfing the backstreets and alleys, one ought to have a separate computer too for those venues to really be safe. IMO

[RA1]

From the title I thought this list would include the Bay of Fundy and 8 other places with "wild water". Still, an interesting topic.

Best regards,

RA1