Porn Sites More Infected Than Thought 170
Posted
by
timothy
from the we-need-some-um-research-funds dept.
from the we-need-some-um-research-funds dept.
nk497 writes "Porn sites are five times as likely to host malware as previously thought, with 3.6% offering up a digital infection of some sort, according to a researchers who set up their very own adult sites for a new study. One reason for the high rate of malware is that the online porn industry makes use of affiliate programs, where one site will drive traffic to another in exchange for links, cash, or simply free pornographic material to use. Because such programs don't check who they're doing business with, and sites use disguised links and other clandestine methods to drive people to different pages, it's easy for criminals to abuse the system to spread malware. Researcher Gilbert Wondracek said, 'They inadvertently have created an ecosystem that can easily be abused on a large scale by cyber criminals, and that's worrying.'"
Simple one-person solution... (Score:2, Interesting)
For random web browsing on assorted sites, boot up from a Linux boot CD. Your entire OS will be in memory, nothing on your HD is touched.
Funny Off-Topic-But-Related Note (Score:5, Interesting)
I work for a facility where a large number of our computers are for public use. We do not filter access (but if children are near someone known to be surfing porn, we have that person stop surfing such material). We all know some people choose to surf porn here, though it boggles the mind why.
One day, I saw an older lady take a wet-nap style cleaning towel from the container we provide and begin cleaning the keyboard with it. I expressed my concern over using a WET-nap for an electronic part (they're for cleaning the desk, seat, hands, etc.).
Lady: But you know they watch porn on these PCs, right? ....?
Me: Yes. We aren't allowed to filter the content. But cleaning the key...
Lady: And you know these porn places are infected with all kinds of viruses, don't you?
Me:
Re:Yea right (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Alternatively (Score:4, Interesting)
Ya I think you need to work to separate sites that happen to have porn on them for various reasons, and sites who's business it is to sell porn. Just because a site has porn on it doesn't make it a porn site, at least not for a useful definition of the term. Now while I'm sure there are actual porn sites that are shady, I'm betting that there are far less than shady sites that try to use porn to lure people. After all, if your business is charging people a monthly fee for access, you want to keep them happy. Infecting them would be stupid. So you make a few bucks for the malware infection, but lose $20+ per month because the subscriber goes elsewhere.
Usage statistics for fetishes (Score:4, Interesting)
Does it correlate with the incidence of STD's? (Score:3, Interesting)
That would be interesting.