YNOT – Advertisements hosted on mainstream websites are 182 times more likely than pornographic sites to deliver malicious content, according to the annual Connected World Technology Report published by Cisco.

“The common notion that illegal or malicious sites expose you to the most risk is outdated,” the report’s authors note. “The vast majority of web malware encounters happen on legitimate and trusted websites that you already visit. As search and online advertising become even more pervasive, these services are being exploited to redirect users to malicious websites or to simply embed malicious content into existing websites.”

During 2012, malicious payloads most frequently were associated with ads and websites for prescription drugs, luxury watches, credit cards, business reviews and professional networks, the report said.

The report also indicates expanding connectivity from any device to many “clouds” represents a significant threat to the entire cyber-landscape. Mobile malware, while still a small portion of the entire population of cyber-bugs, is growing at an alarming rate, and cloud connectivity presents the near-certainty that viruses and Trojans originally aimed at mobile devices will jump the barrier and infect public and private networks via cloud downloads.

“As more people embrace multiple devices that connect to various networks and services through a wide range of applications, more vulnerabilities are exposed,” the report notes.

Among the primary causes for concern was a 2,577-percent rise in attacks targeting Android-based devices during 2012. Mobile malware currently makes up only 0.5 percent of all malware encounters, but that figure is expected to grow as more devices connect and more users abandon or reduce their reliance on traditional desktop environments.

On the positive side, global spam volumes declined by 18 percent during 2012. In addition, spammers seem to have begun keeping banker’s hours, as weekend spam volumes experienced a 25-drop.