Posted by Ben Worthen

The Internet is often compared to the Wild West. But the analogy is breaking down: Unlike the old West, which became law-abiding as its population grew, the Internet is getting wilder.

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The Internet can be a scary place

One tech-security company has an ambitious plan to clean it up. McAfee this week announced a new program called McAfee Secure, which it hopes will become a widely-recognized seal of approval for Web sites. For a fee that starts at $1,000 a year — but which can grow to hundreds of thousands of dollars for larger sites — McAfee will scan a Web site for viruses, vulnerabilities or anything else that would make it a security threat. Sites that pass the test can display a McAfee Secure logo.

The plan comes at a time when the line between safe Web sites and dangerous ones is blurring. It used to be that cyber criminals kept to the Web’s red-light district. Now, however, a Website that loads malicious software onto an unsuspecting visitor’s computer is just as likely to be a well-known legitimate site that a criminal has compromised in some way. Tim Dowling, a vice president at McAfee, tells the Business Technology Blog that his company considers 4% to 5% of all Web sites risky, and that one of these sites is included in the average search query.

Dowling hopes that his company’s certification becomes as ubiquitous as the little lock icons that signify a secure Internet connection. And for the program to be successful, it needs to be ubiquitous: The value to workers comes from understanding the risk posed by sites that don’t have the seal, not from feeling comfortable when they visit sites that have it.

Will it work? No one has ever gone broke betting against companies that try to solve industry-wide problem on their own. The little lock icon – a less comprehensive rating, but the best comparison to McAfee’s service — is a certification offered by several companies. McAfee doesn’t have any customers for the service yet. Also, Dowling tells us that McAfee isn’t planning to give the service away to non-profit organizations or other Web sites that might not be able to afford it.