27 million domain names within 104 different top level domains are investigated with regard to risk for virus and other threats. Japan is on top, while the Republic of Cameroon is ranked on the bottom.

All the Nordic countries are ranked among the safe top level domains, with Sweden as the best in the Nordic region.

Has Norway lost ground?

The Norwegian top level domain has fallen on the ranking list since last year. However, McAfee has changed their measuring methods, and thus it is difficult to draw clear conclusions on the exact ranking for each top level domain.

- From Norid's side we have done no changes that could lead to less safe use of Norwegian domain names, Hilde Thunem, Managing Director of Norid says. - With a new measuring method it is difficult to compare with the former tests before we have data for more years available. However, what is important is that Norwegian domain names are considered as relatively safe.

More risky or better methods?

This is the third big health check of the world's websites from McAfee, and once again they reveal big differences between the top level domains. There are several reasons for the differencies, among them that the domain name policies varies between the top level domains, and that they are differently run.

This time 5.8 % of the websites tested are considered unsafe, against 4.1 % in 2008. Due to new measuring methods, McAfee warns against the conclusion that the Internet as such has become more unsecure. The explanation could as well be that the new method has lead to checking and ranking of risky sites now, even if they have been there for a long time. They underline that they need more analysis to be able to draw reliable conclusions.

Useful for web users

Hilde Thunem thinks that analysises like this are useful for Norwegian web users. - They show evident tendencies when it comes to risky use of websites within different top level domains, which consumers should be aware of, she says.

Published: 27 October 2011