Websites ending with .sg among world's safest

THAT '.sg' domain means it hosts a Singapore website. It is also a 'safe gateway' for surfing, going by a study of more than 8 million websites worldwide.

Released by United States-based security software maker McAfee earlier this week, the study found that websites ending with .sg rank among the least risky in the world because there is less chance of encountering spams, viruses and advertisers' pop-ups.

Other safe-surfing bets that emerged from the study, include Australia (.au), Sweden (.se), Norway (.no) and also governmental domains with the .gov ending.

But go into the 'virtual' dark alleys of .tk, .ro, and .ru, and you may rue it. These are the domains for the South Pacific island of Tokelau, Romania and Russia respectively.

Information sites ending with .info are also dodgy.

These are where dangerous programs, known collectively as malware, that can choke up computer systems, steal passwords and let hackers strike at computers, reside.

Out of the 71 domains surveyed, the .sg domain came in at a low 63, putting it among the top 10 safest in the world.

Mr Aloysius Cheang, the director (technology practice) at consulting firm PIPC, said this means netizens are less likely to be hit by surreptitious downloads when going to the more than 75,000 Singapore-registered websites, and also less likely to get their passwords stolen by spyware when doing online transactions.

Although there are other online dangers like hacking and 'phishing' - emails faked to look authentic to bait bank customers to reveal information like account numbers and PINs - making .sg websites as malware-free as possible is important if businesses want to encourage online transactions.

A household survey of Internet users conducted by the Infocomm Development Authority last year found that 30 per cent of respondents had shopped online, a 3 per cent increase from 2005.

Online banking has also become more popular here, with banks reporting more users and higher transactions.

DBS Bank, Singapore's largest bank, saw a 10 per cent rise in users last year, and it now has over 900,000 online banking users. At OCBC, monthly Internet banking transaction volume went up by more than 60 per cent last year.

Mr Magnum Lee, owner of online video game store, Mega Multimedia, said credibility is very important for customers when deciding on buying things from a website.

Two experts agreed that going online can only become more popular - only beware.

Mr Ashley Wearne, McAfee's vice-president for marketing and integrated solutions, said there are dangerous places online that surfers should never visit.

PIPC's Mr Cheang advised netizens to be always vigilant.

'Singapore's domain might be relatively clean compared to other domains of dubious background, but low crime doesn't mean there is no crime,' he said.