SiteAdvisor Finds Billions of Unsafe Web Visits

Iria · Mar 5, 2006, 07:14 PM

An Internet security startup with roots at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has slapped a red "X" warning label on approximately 5 percent of all Web traffic and warned that there are one billion monthly visits to Web pages that aren't safe for surfing.

With an ambitious mission to use automated crawlers to test every Web site on the Internet, SiteAdvisor officially rolled out a free trial version of a browser plug-in that places a "safe," "caution" or "warning" label whenever a user visits a Web site.

The idea is to use the color-coded (red, yellow or green) system to mark every Web site and to help Web surfers determine if a site's content includes spyware, spam, viruses, browser-based exploits or online scams.

A green checkmark is appended to sites tested by SiteAdvisor and cleared as having no significant problems. However, if a Web site tries to change the user's browser defaults or send a lot of "non-spammy" e-mail, the service will take a use a yellow exclamation mark to caution users.

Web sites found hosting drive-by exploits, bundling adware/spyware with downloads or hammering inboxes with spam get the dreaded red warning "X."
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Read More / Source: eWeek

Mar 5, 2006, 07:14 PM	#1
Iria DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 7,275 Rep Power: 74	SiteAdvisor Finds Billions of Unsafe Web Visits An Internet security startup with roots at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has slapped a red "X" warning label on approximately 5 percent of all Web traffic and warned that there are one billion monthly visits to Web pages that aren't safe for surfing. With an ambitious mission to use automated crawlers to test every Web site on the Internet, SiteAdvisor officially rolled out a free trial version of a browser plug-in that places a "safe," "caution" or "warning" label whenever a user visits a Web site. The idea is to use the color-coded (red, yellow or green) system to mark every Web site and to help Web surfers determine if a site's content includes spyware, spam, viruses, browser-based exploits or online scams. A green checkmark is appended to sites tested by SiteAdvisor and cleared as having no significant problems. However, if a Web site tries to change the user's browser defaults or send a lot of "non-spammy" e-mail, the service will take a use a yellow exclamation mark to caution users. Web sites found hosting drive-by exploits, bundling adware/spyware with downloads or hammering inboxes with spam get the dreaded red warning "X." ____________ Read More / Source: eWeek