Security9.04.2014

Most malware-ridden hosts in South Africa

Google Chrome Safe Browsing malware alert

The Autonomous System (AS) of T-Sol is proportionally the network with the most malware-hosting sites in South Africa, according to Google’s Safe Browsing data for March 2014.

Though the T-Sol AS appears to be small, 5 out of the 9 (56%) sites that Google scanned were reported to be hosting malware.

An Autonomous System, as described by Google, is “one or more networks controlled by a single entity, often a large company, a university, or an [Internet service provider].”

Autonomous systems play a role in determining how traffic is routed across the web, Google explained.

According to Google, an AS often carries the name of the entity that manages it, which is why you may see some familiar names on the AS lists below.

In the case of the T-Sol AS, even though a small number of sites were scanned the statistic remains significant. This is because the proportion of malware-laden sites on the T-Sol AS as reported by Google is far higher than any other AS in South Africa.

Google also reported that it scanned 11% of the T-Sol AS in March, which is a much higher proportion than other autonomous systems in South Africa. The next closest is an AS of the State Information Technology Agency (Sita), at 4% scanned.

“Because Safe Browsing’s scanners are designed to seek out malware, they may only scan a small fraction of each AS,” Google explains on its Safe Browsing malware dashboard.

The table below lists Autonomous Systems in South Africa by the number of sites that were found to be infected with malware. The only AS with fewer than 40 sites scanned shown is T-Sol.

Autonomous System Number of sites scanned Scanned sites hosting malware % of AS scanned
Hetzner (37153) 4,017 143 (4%) 1%
IS (3741) 4,224 53 (1%) 1%
WebAfrica (36943) 1,028 50 (5%) 1%
Mweb-10474 (10474) 780 36 (5%) 1%
MTNNS- (16637) 953 28 (3%) 1%
DPBOL (11845) 430 22 (5%) <1%
Mweb-12258 (12258) 198 13 (7%) 1%
Saix-net (5713) 156 8 (5%) <1%
T-SOL (21739) 9 5 (56%) 11%
CA2- (36874) 159 4 (3%) 1%
RSAWeb- (37053) 168 3 (2%) 2%
SITA- (37130) 41 1 (2%) 4%
Neotel- (36937) 69 1 (1%) 1%
Vodacom-VB (36994) 165 1 (1%) 1%
AboutIT-Online (26422) 122 0 (<1%) 1%
UCT (36982) 40 0 (<1%) 3%
TENET-1 (2018) 129 0 (<1%) 1%

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