"Companies that assign addresses for Web sites appear to be cutting corners on security more when they assign names in certain domains than in others, according to a report to be released Wednesday by antivirus software vendor McAfee Inc.

McAfee found the most dangerous domains to navigate to are ".hk" (Hong Kong), ".cn" (China) and ".info" (information)."

"The servers for ".hk" and ".cn" Web sites don't have to be in China; Web site operators can register sites from anywhere to target different geographies.

Other risky domains include ".ro" (Romania), with 6.8 percent, and ".ru" (Russia), with 6 percent of sites flagged as dangerous."

"Where McAfee found some of the least-risky domain names:
• ".gov" (government use), with 0.05 percent flagged;
• ".jp" (Japan), with 0.1 percent flagged and
• ".au" (Australia), with 0.3 percent flagged."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080604/ap_on_hi_te/tec_dangerous_domains