Tokelau's dot-TK domain are "unusually risky" - McAfee

[antman]

By most measures New Zealand's remote colony of Tokelau is paradise but on the internet it has become the world's most dangerous domain for surfers.

Californian based internet security company McAfee this week said websites with Tokelau's dot-TK domain were "unusually risky".

Many of the fake websites and emails offering "security alerts" from banks around the world arrive via a Tokelau or Niue top level domain (TLD) address.

A senior New Zealand diplomat trying to help Tokelau and Niue told Fairfax Media both have lost control of their internet domains and, along with New Zealand, risk losing their international reputations.

Niue's site has become infamous for hardcore pornography while Tokelau, which has just 1300 people, no airport and no capital, is synonymous with computer viruses, spyware and malicious software covertly dumped onto computer main drives.

"I don't think anybody in either country would have wanted to see this sort of thing happen, both in terms of reputational risk and in terms of the type of activity that would go on in these domains," Tokelau administrator David Payton said.

"It goes against the whole culture and philosophy of Niue and Tokelau."

World ranking for percentage of dangerous websites

1. Tokelau, .TK, 10.1 per cent

3. Samoa, .WS, 5.8 per cent

13. Tuvalu, .TV, 3 per cent

14. Tonga, .TO, 3 per cent

21. Niue, .NU, 2.1 per cent

48. New Zealand, .NZ, 0.6 per cent

65. Australia, .AU, 0.2 per cent

The generic TLD for information .info is the second most dangerous domain at 7.5 per cent

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/news/security/the-worlds-most-dangerous-sites/2007/03/16/1173722722104.html

Spooky indeed

 

[AzN]

It's pretty obvious... .TK domains are free and has no restriction.

 

[traderonline]

yeah! free domains are anonymous and easy to setup which makes it dangerous

 

[xd3vilx]

not surprising. given it is free and no restriction, of course it site bound to be risky.