Online ads more dangerous than porn and warez

The latest edition of Cisco's yearly security threat report claims it's more dangerous to click on an online advertisement than to visit porn websites and counterfeit software sites. The report claims users are 21x more likely to end up with malware from shopping sites and 27x more likely with a search engine than if they'd gone to a warez website. Full details at Security Week.

Popular belief states that security risks increase as the user engages in riskier and shadier behavior online, but that apparently isn't the case, Cisco found in its 2013 Annual Security report, released Jan. 30. For example, users clicking on online advertisements were 182 times more likely to wind up getting infected with malware than if they'd surfed over to an adult content site, Cisco said.

Cisco LogoThe highest concentration of online security targets do not target pornography, pharmaceutical, or gambling sites as much as they affect legitimate sites such as search engines, online retailers, and social media. Users are more 21 times more likely to get hit with malware from online shopping sites and 27 more times likely with a search engine than if they'd gone to a counterfeit software site, according to Cisco.