TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

When it comes to online safety, many people know that the country of origin for both websites and email is an important concern when deciding if something should be opened or viewed. On the surface, you would think countries with access to the latest technologies would be the least likely to be home to malicious content. To the contrary, the U.S. has once again ranked as number one for malicious content on the web, with a recent study focusing on websites that host malware. China, which is host to nearly 28% of the world's maliciously-crafted (or infected) websites, comes in at a distant second to the U.S., which boasts an unhealthy 37% of the world's malware sites.

All other countries fell under 10% individually, which makes the numbers even more surprising. With the amount of corporate regulation that the U.S. has on the books, you would think that companies would be less inclined to setup shop on a U.S. server, and that hosting companies would be more aware that they are home to such content. Clearly that isn't the case.

This isn't the first time in recent history that the U.S. has come in number one for malicious web content. A little over a year ago, Sophos released a report indicating that the U.S. was also number one for spam, responsible for more than a fourth of spam relayed around the world.