Sex and online security: how much danger are we really in?

Posted on 19 Aug 2009 at 11:45

Davey Winder explores the connections between online sex and online security

This month I want to explore the broader links between sex and online security. I'll readily admit to being a huge fan of that Discovery Channel TV show called Mythbusters - you know the one where a couple of unlikely-looking geeks spend much time and energy in practical investigations to solve urban-mythical puzzles, like is it possible to escape from prison using a rope made of sheets (yes it is) or does shooting a propane tank make it explode (no it doesn't)?

So what about the idea that visiting any adult website can compromise your computer's security? That notion is widely bandied about, even though common sense tells us that if it was really that common then surely the online porn business would have been busted by now, or at least wouldn't be turning the huge profits that it does.

Well, a recent survey by Moneysupermarket.com suggests that of the 12 million people in the UK whose computers were compromised by a "virus" over a six-month period, one million of them were the result of visiting an adult website. Of course all 12 million infections occurred because the hapless victim either had no antivirus protection or out-of-date protection, but still that one million in six months infection rate for the online porn industry does reinforce the notion that, whether on the internet or in real life, the Red Light District is always a hazardous part of town.

31% of all the most dangerous websites out there contain adult content... It's all too easy to highlight this kind of figure if you have an anti-porn axe to grind

Another bit of research that found its way onto my desk suggests that 31% of all the most dangerous websites out there contain adult content, based on a study of some 19 million sites. The thing is, it's all too easy to highlight this kind of figure if you have an anti-porn axe to grind, but the same survey a little later on pointed out that another 26% of the most dangerous sites are software downloads rather than porn, and that doesn't provoke the same sort of knee-jerk reaction, warning people to stay away from software.

Understanding the endgame

One of the problems when investigating the online sex business *vis a vis* online security is that quite often the sex site is just the endgame. Bear with me for a while, if you will. To be sure there will always be rogue operators in any business sector, and some of these will be serving up trojans disguised as video codecs, or attempting drive-by compromises of known JavaScript exploits, and suchlike. I'm even prepared to admit that the odds lean toward adult sites being *more likely* to be used by such dodgy operators, purely on the basis of the popularity of online porn.

Look at social networking sites and you'll see that as their popularity rises - by which I mean their popularity among non-geeks, the Man on the Clapham Omnibus becoming aware of Facebook and Twitter - so instances of compromised security increase exponentially. The bigger the system the greater the risk of exposure, simple. That's why online porn sites are often found at the ultimate destination of links sent via spam, or as malware payloads that push your browser in that direction. But my gut instinct is that this is usually done to push people towards advertising and paid subscription services, rather than for anything more sinister.

Some totally legit adult sites still make use of pop-up and pop-under windows, spawning the horrid things as though they were going out of fashion (which of course they are, thanks to browser add-ons that suppress them) solely to put more advertising in front of the punters. Adult advertising is the main revenue source for free porn sites, which cannot rely upon subscription-based income from streaming video feeds. The unscrupulous operator will use pretty well any method to place that advertising in front of your eyes, but is that enough to qualify as a real security problem? Of course it isn't, it's more of an annoyance (unless you start link-clicking like an idiot).

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User comments

Then again...

Then again you can get great value on adult sites. Sign up to a 'three days for $3' deal an then immediately unsubscribe. With a good broadband link you can easily (and legally) grab 40GB or more of data. Data of questionable quality and worth sure, but that's pretty good value by online standards. And in it's defence, the addult industry is one of the few online economies that doesn't play the Rip Off Britain and Adobe Surcharge game.

By ANTIcarr0t on 22 Aug 2009

Good point

And lets not forget, the Adult industry has been the unsung driver behind a lot of innovation and commercial boom in the last 10 years or so.

DVD. The first to embrace the format, and go beyond the straigh transfer of video, and describe the "menu" as a special interactive feature. Eg, they added more content and used to medium to advantage. And they are still virtually the only publishers that make use of the interactive camera angle feature that DVD offers...

Internet. Or should I say, Cisco :-) As PC Pro reported back in the late 90s (your or Steve Cs RWA column) the biggest market sector that Cisco was selling into was the adult market. I "confirmed" this a few years later, as a snr mngr with a very large carrier (one of Cisco's biggest customers), when we started asking who had a bigger spend than us. Very coy about that, they were!

The tech spend from the Adult market segment, was, I recall, in the top 5% across all market segments. Essentially, they drove the investment behind the net, in terms of server farms and bandwidth provision. A more than significant bulk of the business carried/catered for by the largest carrier back in 2000 was adult. Our estimate was 40% of our traffic...

Now if Govts could get over themselves, "legitimising" porn could result in some very lucrative tax revenues. And once legitimised, address some of the problems that arise soley because it is an underground market.

By alan_lj on 8 Sep 2009

Why do people expect the adult industry to be rife with virai?

Seriously? It's a business same as any other. The laws governing it are draconian - far more so than those governing banking.

There is a demand for a product. Actually talking to people who work in the industry, either performers or the business side (often one and the same) what they do is nothing more than a job like any other.

By bubbles16 on 11 Sep 2009

'Apply the same rules of the online road as you should for any other internet activity, and these security risks can be mitigated somewhat: you need a fully-patched OS; fully-patched applications; a secure web browser; up-to-date antivirus and internet security software; and a hefty dose of good old fashioned common sense before setting virtual foot into the online Red Light District.'

Or just use an up to date Mac with that hefty dose of common sense.

By NoExpert on 5 Oct 2009

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Davey Winder

Davey is a contributing editor to PC Pro, having covered the internet as a topic since the magazine started in 1994. Since that time he's won numerous awards for his journalism, but remains a small-business consultant specialising in privacy, security and usability issues.