This means that in case someone accesses a Singapore-registered Internet site whose address contains the suffix ".sg," there are strong possibilities that computer could get infection, according to security specialists.

McAfee states that the risky websites in Singapore increased from 0.3% during 2008 to 9.1% in 2009. However, the level of threat seems to be moderate instead of severe.

McAfee emphasized that Chinese websites in Singapore, which spammed pharmacy products, chiefly produced risk.

Shane Keats, Senior Research Analyst at McAfee, states that during late 2009, the security company observed numerous .sg phishing websites which impersonated genuine financial sites. These phishing sites typically deceived people to get them to enter their sensitive information such as bank-account numbers, as reported by Asiaonedigital on December 18, 2009.

Keats added that McAfee lately found many .sg websites delivering Koobface worm, which infected several social-networking sites.

Consequently, Singapore websites could earn a bad name and are adversely influencing Singapore's legitimate businesses that depend on e-commerce.

Furthermore, there could be a feeling of distrust among Internet users for websites that have .sg suffix, as users could fear of being infected by malware or becoming victims of scams. Indeed, McAfee points out that if there occurs a lowering of Singapore's reputation as a trustworthy and dependable zone on the cyber-world, the impact from that could be global.

Meanwhile, when hackers and scammers register their craftily designed websites, they prefer to use registrars that charge low, register easily as well as are devoid of regulation. Considering that Singapore has a high ranking in the Internet world, hackers and scammers presume that when the .sg domains are registered, no regulation is involved. They also take it that getting those domains registered is inexpensive and easy.

Finally, the report notes a dramatic change - the most risky .hk (Hong Kong) domain of 2008 dropped to 34th place, while the .cm (Cameroon) domain replaced it with a 36.7% risk rate.