The Internet security organization SiteAdvisor, founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, has warned that approximately 5% of web traffic is currently categorized as “red alert”.
SiteAdvisor has launched a trial version of free software that can provide notifications of Safe, Caution, or Warning whenever users visit a website. The system employs a color-coding scheme of green, yellow, and red to help users identify sites that contain spyware, viruses, browser vulnerabilities, or online scams…
The SiteAdvisor software is compatible with Internet Explorer and Firefox. In addition to the color ranking system on browsers and on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN, SiteAdvisor also features a Site Report page that provides results for every website the system has scanned. For example, 10 out of 18 results for the keyword “screensavers” on Google’s tool were rated as Warning.
Since its launch, the service has monitored and analyzed websites that account for up to 95% of current web traffic. Additionally, SiteAdvisor has identified approximately 475,000 files downloaded by users that contain adware, spyware, and viruses.
T.N.
