Malware Activity: Top-level Domains Quarter over Quarter Comparison: July 1,2023 - September 30,2023

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 (July to September 2023)

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

Number of Malware Domains
Rank TLD April to June 2023 July to September 2023 ▼
1 com 18,009 14,765 (-18%)
2 net 1,278 1,321 (+3%)
3 ▲ +5* info 434 1,050 (+142%)
4 org 1,050 986 (-6%)
5 ▲ +46 store 60 810 (+1,250%)
6 ▼ -1 ru 928 721 (-22%)
7 ▼ -4 br 1,257 720 (-43%)
8 ▲ +5 uk 284 490 (+73%)
9 ▲ +8 shop 249 481 (+93%)
10 ▲ +12 top 207 415 (+100%)
11 ▲ +9 xyz 224 400 (+79%)
12 ▼ -6 in 540 383 (-29%)
13 ▼ -6 it 447 321 (-28%)
14 ▲ +1 de 271 321 (+18%)
15 ▼ -5 pl 348 289 (-17%)
16 ▼ -2 fr 271 259 (-4%)
17 ▼ -5 id 287 235 (-18%)
18 ▲ +35 beauty 60 201 (+235%)
19 ▼ -10 cn 380 198 (-48%)
20 ▲ +3 eu 201 198 (-1%)

* 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