Number of infected sites rockets

Sophos has said that it discovered infected web pages at the rate of one every five seconds in the first quarter of 2008.

This compares to one every 14 seconds in 2007 and illustrates the global increase in cybercrime, according to the company.

However, some countries are more to blame than others - the US, China and Russia account for 72.4 per cent of the web-based malware.

"The US and China are no strangers to this chart, with the two countries long holding the top two spots in this hall of shame," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.

The UK accounts for 1.1 per cent and is seventh in the chart.

Sophos said that rather than specially-created web pages, designed with the express intention of hosting malware, many of the dangerous websites are actually legitimate, though they have been the victim of a malicious attack.

"About one per cent of web requests now deliver an infected page, most of which are legitimate websites belonging to people just trying to earn a living," said Theriault.

www.sophos.com