[AfrICANN-discuss] Netizens are to Play Safe with .sg

[Anne-Rachel Inné]

If you want to see the McAfee study they are referring to, you can go
here: http://us.mcafee.com/root/identitytheft.asp?id=safe_typo&cid=38296

Netizens are to Play Safe with .sg
 IBLS Contributor: Gladys MIRANDAH, patrick mirandah co., gladys at mirandah.com
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=latestnews&id=1924

A recent study on safe Internet surf zones conducted by the US-based
security software maker McAfee, revealed that websites of ".sg" are
one of the world's safest websites to visit, as there are less chances
of encountering spam, viruses and advertisers" pop ups.

The list of recommended safe surfing zones for netizens to visit, as
provided by the study, also included websites with .au for Australian
domains; .se for domains in Sweden; .no for Norway; .fi for Finland;
and .gov for government domain names.

The study also included unsafe domain names such as .ro for Romanian
domain names; .ru for Russian domain names; and most .info websites.
These are reputed to be dodgy websites and are to be avoided as they
contain dangerous programs, known collectively as "malware," that
potentially choke up computer systems, steal passwords and allow
hackers to strike at computers.

Singapore domain websites are considered safe as they are less likely
to get their passwords stolen by spyware when doing online
transactions, and are "malware" free when compared to other website
domains. Although the report showed, there are still online hazards
with .sg domain names like hacking and "phishing." Singapore domains
are relatively less crowded with these online criminal activities
compared to others.

Safe surf zones are important as it encourages online business
transactions and potentially increases better business opportunities.
This is evidenced by the fact that there has been an annual increase
of online transactions in Singapore alone as shown by a survey
conducted by the Info-Com Development Authority last year.

As a result of .sg safeness, online banking has now become more
popular with banks reporting more users and recorded higher online
transactions. The largest bank in Singapore, DBS Bank, has seen a 10%
rise in users last year and it now has over 900,000 online banking
users. OCBC Online banking transaction went up more than 60% last
year. This shows that when online usage is safe, more customers tend
to depend on its reliability.