News

More Dangerous Than Porn: Religious Websites

Report says religious websites are three times more likely to infect computers with viruses than porn websites.

Christianity Today May 8, 2012

A recent report from an anti-virus software vendor suggests pornography sites are safer than religious sites—for computers, that is.

Symantec’s annual Internet Security Threat Report said religious or ideologically themed sites were three times more likely to infect a computer with a virus than sites with adult content.

“We hypothesize that this is because pornographic website owners already make money from the internet and, as a result, have a vested interest in keeping their sites malware-free—it’s not good for repeat business,” Symantec stated in its report.

Viruses are downloaded in “drive-by attacks” when users visit a site that has been infected with malware. Symantec reported that it blocked more than 5.5 billion malware attacks last year, up 81 percent from 2010, adding that users are more likely to be infected by malware placed on legitimate sites than by sites created by hackers.

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