Malware Activity: Top-level Domains Quarter over Quarter Comparison: January 1,2023 - March 31,2023

For purposes of observing change over time, it is useful to compare measurements and metrics over successive reporting periods. Such comparisons illustrate whether malware activities are increasing or decreasing, and where such changes are occurring. Such comparisons can identify TLDs that are persistently abused or exploited to host malware. Investigators or policy makers may focus on these for deeper analyses.

In the table below, we compare number of domains reported for hosting malware in TLDs for two consecutive quarters.

Complete lists of Top-level Domains, gTLD registrars and hosting networks (ASNs) where malware was reported for the quarter can be downloaded in CSV format from the Records page.

Ranking of TLDs by Malware Domains, Quarter over Quarter (January to March 2023)

TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 malware domains

Number of Malware Domains
Rank TLD October to December 2022 January to March 2023 ▼
1 com 27,018 16,570 (-39%)
2 net 2,121 1,351 (-36%)
3 ▲ +20* us 292 983 (+237%)
4 ▲ +1 org 1,736 912 (-47%)
5 ▲ +1 ru 1,339 864 (-35%)
6 ▼ -3 br 2,092 616 (-71%)
7 ▲ +38 me 125 524 (+319%)
8 ▼ -4 in 1,887 478 (-75%)
9 ▲ +26 cn 191 427 (+124%)
10 ▲ +32 site 129 366 (+184%)
11 ▲ +20 online 229 352 (+54%)
12 ▲ +4 it 395 350 (-11%)
13 ▲ +23 top 181 346 (+91%)
14 ▲ +3 pl 382 340 (-11%)
15 ▼ -8 xyz 629 297 (-53%)
16 ▼ -8 id 533 270 (-49%)
17 ▲ +3 de 330 260 (-21%)
18 ▲ +16 eu 204 222 (+9%)
19 ▲ +5 fr 287 214 (-25%)
20 ▼ -10 uk 452 194 (-57%)

* Indicates change over prior quarter


Quarterly Update:
Top Level Domains
Quarter over Quarter:
Key Statistics
Quarter over Quarter:
Top Level Domains
Quarter over Quarter:
Registrars
Quarter over Quarter:
Hosting Networks