Malicious Comments

A staggering 95% of user-generated content for the second half of last year was “malicious,” according to a report from security film Websense. “First off: the film, which scans millions on web sites and e-mails a day looking for malicious content, found that 95 per cent of all user-generated content came laced with some kind of spam or malicious link. ‘The notion that the internet could be the great equalizer turned out to be true after all; unfortunately, it’s mostly making suckers out of us all,’ said the wonderful tech web site Ars Technica on the matter. Personally I’m quite startled by this number. It’s like saying that 95 per cent of the comments posted on this blog will have malicious content (and no guys: some comments may be biting, but that doesn’t make them malicious). I’m waiting to hear back from the guys at Websense so they can tell me which types of web sites were the most affected by this trend. I’ll also check with our IT department to see if the Gate had half as many problems last year. I’ll keep you posted.”