International. According to research by NordVPN, adult content, streaming, and video hosting websites present more security and privacy threats, such as malware, intrusive ads, and trackers.
That research showed that NordVPN's Threat Protection feature blocked 344 million trackers, 341 million intrusive ads, and 506,000 malware infections in the month of December 2022 alone.
Adrianus Warmenhoven, cybersecurity advisor at NordVPN, said: "The online world challenges people in your every move. Do you want to read an article? Dozens of ads and pop-ups are ready to immediately cover your screen. Another privacy threat — malware — lurks on websites and files you're about to download. The websites you browse are also full of third-party trackers that analyze your browsing history to find out what you do on the internet. It's up to you to stop it."
Adult Content Websites: The Biggest Malware Entry
According to the aforementioned research, adult content websites (21%), as well as cloud storage providers (14%) and entertainment sites (11%), contain the most malware. In December, NordVPN's Threat Protection blocked 60,400, 40,100, and 30,900 domains in these categories respectively.
According to the brand, "the most common types of malware are viruses, spyware, worms, Trojans, adware, scareware, ransomware, and fireproof malware."
Streaming websites: more intrusive ads
The study also highlighted that, in terms of intrusive ads, the majority were found on streaming sites (23%), adult content (16%) and online purchases (9%). Threat Protection detected and blocked 552, 389, and 226 million ads, respectively.
Adrianus said: "Today, ad blockers are essential both for security, as they block ads that can infect people's devices, and for privacy, as annoying ads rely on the collection of web activity data and violate people's privacy. Also, if a website loads slower than usual, intrusive ads can be blamed. Free apps full of unwanted ads can also drain your device's battery faster."
Video hosting websites have more trackers
Using NordVPN's Threat Protection showed that video hosting websites (22%), cloud storage providers (16.31%), web email (16.25%), and information technology sites (12%) have the most trackers.
"Video hosting sites alone had 239 billion trackers blocked by Threat Protection in December 2022." In addition, in other brand research, the average number of trackers per website had the highest statistics in Hong Kong (45.4 trackers), Singapore (33.5), the United States (23.1) and Australia (18.6).
In this regard, Adrianus pointed out: "You can be less traceable on the internet by rejecting third-party cookies, since websites can sell your browsing data to third parties; using a VPN, which will hide your real IP address and location; installing a tracker blocker, which will prevent your browsers from collecting information about you; and using privacy browsers, which can track your browser, or getting rid of Google, which tracks a lot of data about you."
Research methodology
Finally, according to NordVPN, the statistics mentioned above were obtained by analyzing the aggregated data collected by the brand's Threat Protection service as of January 2023. "No user identifiable information was collected, reviewed, or otherwise engaged when the investigation was conducted and the results were collected."
