Beware the pop up ad! Adult content, streaming and video hosting sites have the most security and privacy threats, such as malware, intrusive ads, and trackers, according to research by NordVPN.

NordVPN’s Threat Protection feature was found to have blocked 344 million trackers, 341M intrusive ads, and 506k malware infections in the month of December 2022 alone.

“The online world is challenging people in every single move they make. Want to read an article? Dozens of ads and pop-ups are ready to immediately cover your screen. Another privacy threat – malware – is lurking for you on websites and in files you are about to download,” said Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity advisor at NordVPN.

“Websites you browse are also full of third-party trackers that analyze your browsing history to find out what you do online. It depends on you to stop it.”

Adult Content Sites – Biggest Harbour of Malware

Malware is malicious software that seeks to damage or compromise a device or data, with a scope that varies from relatively harmless to extremely dangerous. Malicious software can track people’s data, steal sensitive information, or even delete it without your consent.

NordVPN research shows that adult content sites (21%) were the biggest harbour of malware, followed by cloud storage providers (14%) and entertainment sites (11%).

Among the most comment types of malware are viruses, spyware, worms, trojans, adware, scareware, ransomware, and fireless malware.

Streaming Sites – Most Intrusive Ads

Intrusive advertising refers to pushing invasive and irrelevant ads in front of consumers. They pop up unexpectedly, block the host page, open new pages and windows or play videos and audio at inopportune times.

As for intrusive ads, the majority of them were found on streaming (23%), adult content (16%), and online shopping (9%) sites. Threat Protection detected and blocked millions of them: 552M, 389M, and 226M respectively.

“Today, ad blockers are essential for both security because they block ads that can infect people’s devices and privacy because annoying ads rely on collecting data from web activity and violating people’s privacy. Also, if a website is loading slower than usual, you can blame intrusive ads. Free apps filled with unwanted ads could also drain your device’s battery faster,” explained Adrianus Warmenhoven.

Video Hosting Sites – Most Trackers 

While many trackers are a tool for advertising and tailoring user experience, they may also become handy for online spies.

Internet service providers (ISPs), marketing agencies, social media companies, and governments can access your online actions and breach your privacy.

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NordVPN’s Threat Protection showed that video hosting sites (22%), cloud storage providers (16.31%), web email (16.25%), and information technology sites (12%) have the most trackers. Video hosting sites alone had 239 billion trackers blocked by Threat Protection in December 2022.

It’s worth adding that earlier NordVPN research showed that the average number of trackers per website is highest in Hong Kong (45.4 trackers), Singapore (33.5), the United States (23.1), and Australia (18.6).

“You can become less trackable online by declining third party cookies, because the website can sell your browsing data to third parties; using a VPN, which will hide your real IP address and location; installing a tracker blocker, which will stop your browsers from collecting information about you; and using privacy browsers, which can obfuscate your browser fingerprint, or ditching Google, which tracks a lot of data about you,” explained Adrianus Warmenhoven.

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