BEIJING – It looks like you might want to make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date when surfing .hk and .cn domain names.

The Standard in Hong Kong is reporting that websites ending in .hk are the world’s most dangerous:

McAfees second annual report identifies domains populated with the highest concentration of risky sites, with 19.2 percent of checked .hk sites found to be dangerous or potentially dangerous. Other potentially dangerous sites are .cn (11.8 percent) and .info (11.7 percent).

The safest sites are .gov which are for government use with 0.05 percent, .jp (Japan) with 0.1 percent and .au (Australia) with 0.3 percent.

Some are criticizing Hong Kong’s lax domain name registration process, which was put in place to promote Hong Kong:

Leizaola said Russia-based spammers and online pharmacies out of Canada have flocked to the relatively unregulated domain name to establish their online presence. The ".hk" domain was also attractive to online scammers as the city's reputation as a trade hub lent a veneer of legitimacy to cyber criminals, he said.

A HKDNR spokeswoman, however, said the websites tested in the report several months ago no longer exist, as the company has suspended more than 10,000 suspicious domains. She added HKDNR now has some of the most stringent policies and tightened measures in place to minimize incidences of security risks.

The study was done by McAfee, the popular anti-virus software.