A new McAfee report titled "Mapping the Mal Web Revisited" reveals among other things that the Hong Kong (.hk) domain has jumped 28 places to qualify as the most dangerous place to surf and search on the Web. Hong Kong has taken the mantle from Tokelau, a tiny island of around 1,500 inhabitants in the South Pacific.

The report reveals that 19.2 percent of all Web sites ending in the .hk domain pose a security threat to Web users. China (.cn) is the second most dangerous place to surf on the Web with 11 percent of all Web sites ending in .cn posing a security threat to Web users.

By contrast, Finland (.fi) replaces Ireland (.is) as the safest online destination with just 0.05 percent of all Web sites ending in this domain posing a security risk to Web users. Japan (.jp) emerges the second most safe destination on the Web.

McAfee claims to have analyzed nearly 9.9-million heavily-trafficked Web sites found in 265 different country plus generic domains to arrive at these findings.

Country-wise, Romania (.ro) and Russia (.ru) figure amongst the top five most dangerous places on the Web with 6.75 percent and 6 percent of all Web sites ending in these domains respectively posing a threat to Web users. Whereas Japan (.jp) and Australia (.au) emerge as the safest country domains to surf.

Other findings include:

The chances of downloading spyware, adware, viruses, or other unwanted software from surfing the Web has increased 41.5 percent over 2007

Sites offering downloads such as ring tones and screen savers also loaded with viruses, spyware, and adware have increased from 3.3 percent (2007) to 4.7 percent (2008)

The Philippines (.ph) has experienced a 270 percent increase in overall riskiness

Tokelau (.tk) and Samoa (.ws) are notably safer in 2008 dropping to 28th and 12th place respectively

In Europe, Spain (.es) has experienced a 91 percent increase in overall risk

Commenting on the findings, Jeff Green, senior vice president (Product Development), Avert Labs, said, "Just like the real world, the virtual threats and risks are constantly changing. As our research shows, Web sites that are safe today can be dangerous tomorrow. Surfing the Web based or conventional wisdom is not enough to avoid risk online."

For the full McAfee report, visit: www.mcafee.com/advice. A comparative table can be found as below: