A third of all malware is encountered in the U.S.

Legitimate sites and advertisements on the Web are much more likely to deliver malware than "shady" sites, according to a new study released Wednesday.

According to the Cisco 2013 Annual Security Report, the highest concentration of online security sites does not come from "risky" sites such as pornography, pharmaceutical, or gambling sites, but from everyday sites.

"In fact, Cisco found that online shopping sites are 21 times as likely, and search engines are 27 times as likely, to deliver malicious content than a counterfeit software site," the study says. "Online advertisements are 182 as times likely to deliver malicious content than pornography."

The U.S. retains the top spot among countries where the most malware is encountered, accounting for a third of all malware, the study says. Russia was in the No. 2 spot with almost 10%; China dropped to less than 6%.

"Most Generation Y employees believe the age of privacy is over (91%) and one third say that they are not worried about all the data that is stored and captured about them," the study says. "They are willing to sacrifice personal information for socialization online. In fact, more Generation Y workers globally said they feel more comfortable sharing personal information with retail sites than with their own employers' IT departments."

SUMMARY

Young U.S. Internet users accept malware from conventional sources.

SOURCE: Dark Reading, January 2013