Stopbadware (hat tip Computer Crime Research Center) reports:

The majority of the Internet’s malware-infected websites are located on Chinese networks, finds a new report released today by StopBadware.org, the university-based research initiative aimed at protecting users from dangerous software. The report also identifies the 10 network blocks that contain the largest number of badware sites. Six of the 10 are located in China.

“Sites that infect visiting PCs represent some of the worst of digital pollution,” said Jonathan Zittrain, StopBadware.org co-director and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. “Malware is a global problem that requires cooperation across industries and across national borders.”

As China strives to hone its image in preparation for the Beijing Olympics, fifty-two percent of the more than 200,000 infected sites StopBadware.org analyzed in late May were hosted by Chinese networks. U.S.-based networks accounted for 21 percent of bad sites. The data were provided by Google’s Safe Browsing team and are searchable by URL in the StopBadware.org Badware Website Clearinghouse.

This is pretty much consistent with every other study of infected websites on the internet. China always wins, hands down. It’s a combination of poor administration, an active hacking community, and utter indifference from the information industry. Chinese internet users really suffer for it, with their online banking, gaming, and messaging accounts the primary targets. Part of what drives this is the rapid growth of internet adoption in China. There’s a lot of people and companies who don’t understand the nature of the risks on the internet. They’re easy pickings and become a platform or a vector to attack others.

The folks at stopbadware, according to their report, have made a real effort to explain to the providers hosting these sites where the problems lie. That’s super, bravo.

However, in China they said that they had no “success in contacting these companies”. Hmmm, I wonder if: 1) they might have thought to ask in Chinese. Maybe they did, which leads to: 2) maybe they shouldn’t have used the words “pollution” (er, digital blue sky day, anyone?) and “across national borders” (um, how about digital internal affairs?). And: 3) definitely a gratuitous slap at the Beijing Olympics won’t get them any candy and a hongbao next CNY.

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