Diplomacy and malware

Could you get malware on your computer from browing an embassy Website? Dancho Danchev points his readers to the discoveries of malware of the sites of various embassies – and the list keeps growing. This week it’s the web-site of the the Ethiopian Embassy in D.C.; two weeks ago it was the Azerbaijan section of ...

Could you get malware on your computer from browing an embassy Website?

Could you get malware on your computer from browing an embassy Website?

Dancho Danchev points his readers to the discoveries of malware of the sites of various embassies – and the list keeps growing. This week it’s the web-site of the the Ethiopian Embassy in D.C.; two weeks ago it was the Azerbaijan section of USAID. Here are some previous victims: Azerbaijanian Embassies in Pakistan and Hungary, Embassy of India in Spain Embassy of Brazil in India, The Dutch Embassy in Moscow, U.S Consulate in St. Petersburg, Syrian Embassy in London, and French Embassy in Libya.

If it continues at this rate, soon we’ll need a dedicated Google Maps to keep track of this global malware fest. I am just curious whether the diplomatic institutions are disproportionately represented on the lists of malware-infected sites (and thus are more likely to infect you) or they simply receive more coverage as they make for greater news subjects, since, technically, they represent a breach of national security.

Photo by Dano

Evgeny Morozov is a fellow at the Open Society Institute and sits on the board of OSI's Information Program. He writes the Net Effect blog on ForeignPolicy.com
Tag: War

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