[kathrynhr]

In another thread, I wondered what percentage of Internet traffic was porn. So I did some digging. Answer: about 10%, down from 20% a decade ago.

What dethroned porn? Social networking sites.

Researchers recently determined that "social networking has dethroned pornography as the hottest attraction on the Web," and that "in a study of the full Internet -- some 155 million Web pages -- between 2006 and 2007, Optenet found that pornographic sites had dropped by nearly 9 percent in the space of a year."

However, lest we leap to the conclusion that we've all put our pants back on, "porn still accounts for the largest number of Websites, registering more than 36 percent of the Web in 2007. Shopping sites, finished at No. 2 with 11 percent, followed by advertising and travel, which accounted for about 7 percent each."

I conclude this drop is, in part, due to the better smut filters in the workplace, as I've read several times before that most porn surfing happens during business hours.

I wonder if the porn statistics will rise again, the next time the study is done, now that so many people have lost their jobs?

The study goes on to say that some objectionable sites have had huge increases over the last 10 years: "some of the fastest-growing categories of Websites are anonymizers, which multiplied by about 219 percent between 2006 and 2007; hacker sites (88 percent); and malicious code (70 percent).

Other categories showing alarming growth included sites promoting violence (126 percent); racism (71 percent); and drugs (62 percent). The fastest growing category was sites promoting anorexia and bulimia, which grew 469 percent between 2006 and 2007."

Promoting anorexia and bulimia????

Best source article about this study: Research: Porn Is Losing Its Steam - Security/Management - DarkReading

[LunkHead]

Interesting stuff expect that social networking sites are now # 1...

I guess I have never understood the fascination with porn.... My wife is plenty enough for me and looks better than any porn star out there... I don't really have the desire to watch that stuff....

Now a hottie in a bikini...... :woot: but I have no desire to see her get it on with someone else... Perhaps I am just odd....

Wonder what the rise in hacker and code sites is due to?

Kris

[mriff]

Originally Posted by kathrynhr

Other categories showing alarming growth included sites promoting violence (126 percent); racism (71 percent); and drugs (62 percent). The fastest growing category was sites promoting anorexia and bulimia, which grew 469 percent between 2006 and 2007."

Wow Kathryn. I think the other sites that show growth that you mention above are far more disturbing than internet porn.

[muskiemania]

I think myspace might be a little bit of an alias for amateur porn...social networking might have stolen a few votes there...

[jsconyers]

Originally Posted by mriff

Wow Kathryn. I think the other sites that show growth that you mention above are far more disturbing than internet porn.

I agree. Those are scary statistics.

[daphne]

Originally Posted by LunkHead

Wonder what the rise in hacker and code sites is due to?

Kris

In a word, money. Hacking and malware are big money makers now -- organized crime. Wannabes can rent a bot net to send spam or distribute malware that steals passwords. There are sites run by kids, teenagers, that sell stolen credit card numbers. I have some friends who have gotten a number of them shut down, but usually they pop up on another server within a few days.

Dancho Danchev's Blog - Mind Streams of Information Security Knowledge: Crimeware in the Middle - Limbo

While you were out - "Cybercrime-as-a-Service is finally taking off" and a $400 will get you in the hacking business. Such a mentality speaks for an outdated situational awareness.

Cybercrime as a service originally started in the form of "value-added" post-purchase services, the now ubiquitous lower detection rate management for a malware binary, and anti-abuse domain hosting for the command and control interface, several years ago. As far as the $400 required as an entry barrier into cybercrime no longer exists. In reality, pirated copies each and every web malware exploitation kit including the proprietary crimeware kits are becoming more widespread these days.

This article shows now much money is being made by criminals pushing rogueware -- stuff like Antivirus 2009. The screenshots show their income for just 2 weeks.

Massive Profits Fueling Rogue Antivirus Market - Security Fix

One guy made over $200,000 in 2 weeks.