A few weeks ago, I wrote in WXPnews about how perfectly legitimate web sites that you trust can end up infecting your computer with malicious code, thanks to hackers. To read that article, see Why Did You Get Malware from that (Trusted) Website?
http://www.wxpnews.com/archives/wxpnews-426-20100420.htm
Now, as if to illustrate my point, AVG has reportedly discovered that at least three U.S. Treasury Department web sites have been hacked in just that way, and were actively downloading malware to visitors’ computers until they were taken offline last week. The message here is that no web site is completely safe, and it’s imperative that you configure your web browser to prevent drive-by downloads – even if you never venture over to the “dark side of the web.”
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/050410-us-treasury-web-sites-hacked.html?source=NWWNLE_nlt_security_2010-05-05