According to the security gurus Trend Micro, the most dangerous site on the net in 2010 was none other than google.com. Of course, no one would believe this out of hand – Google’s had its problems in the last year, what with user privacy snafus and other ballyhoo, but when you consider Google’s immense popularity, it becomes a different story. Factoring Google’s reputation as the (second-)most visited site on the net (Facebook passed it this past year), it is a prime target for blackhat SEO schemes, leading to all manner of malware and other threats.
Naturally, it takes two to tango, and the user is every bit as at fault as Google. Just don’t click suspicious links. But even so, maybe Google could amp up its own methods of culling bad apples from the basket.
Facebook also felt the finger of blame this year due to its own popularity, as Trend Micro awarded it ‘most dangerous social network’. With survey scams and malware and privacy fiascos aplenty, it’s not very difficult to see why Facebook nabbed the prize. Though, all things considered… when you’re just about the only social network, you’re bound to wind up the most dangerous, regardless.
