Phishing Activity in Domain Registrars, August 1, 2022 - October 31, 2022

Phishers compose hostnames and URLs from domain names that they register purposely for phishing (malicious domain registrations), or from domain names that they have exploited in some way (e.g., by hijacking a domain registration account or by compromising a host such as a web site). They embed these URLs in the emails, texts, or social media posts that lure victims to phishing web sites.

To determine where gTLD domain names were purchased and managed, and where reported phishing domains are concentrated in gTLD registrars’ domain portfolios, we identify the domain name Registrar - the business entity that processed the domain name registration – of domain names reported for phishing activity from domain name registration data obtained via the Whois or RDAP services. Measurements of reported phishing domains can identify registrars where close analyses of business practices, account security, or pricing might prove useful.

We currently collect domain registration data for generic Top-level Domains only; thus, the tables on this page present gTLD domains under management for each registrar.

In the table below, we show the domain name Registrars with the highest number of reported phishing domains under management. A complete list of gTLD registrars where phishing was reported for the quarter can be downloaded in CSV format from the Records page.

Ranking of Domain Registrars by Phishing Domains (August to October 2022)

Registrars with a minimum of 30,000 domains and 25 phishing domains

Rank Registrar Registrar IANA_ID gTLD Domains
under Management
Phishing Domains ▼ Phishing Domain Score
1 Sav.com, LLC 609 1,465,306 19,599 133.75
2 NameSilo, LLC 1479 4,507,830 15,919 35.31
3 GoDaddy.com, LLC 146 65,778,642 14,971 2.28
4 NameCheap, Inc. 1068 14,325,755 14,521 10.14
5 Alibaba Cloud Computing Ltd. d/b/a HiChina (www.net.cn) 1599 3,216,834 11,783 36.63
6 PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com 303 4,732,711 8,255 17.44
7 NICENIC INTERNATIONAL GROUP CO., LIMITED 3765 33,957 5,810 1710.99
8 GMO Internet, Inc. d/b/a Onamae.com 49 4,753,774 5,373 11.30
9 eNom, LLC 48 4,422,183 4,819 10.90
10 OwnRegistrar, Inc. 1250 817,907 4,707 57.55
11 ALIBABA.COM SINGAPORE E-COMMERCE PRIVATE LIMITED 3775 1,242,022 4,659 37.51
12 Tucows Domains Inc. 69 9,778,324 3,779 3.86
13 Google LLC 895 8,086,099 3,537 4.37
14 Porkbun LLC 1861 998,854 3,485 34.89
15 Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC 1606 749,164 3,136 41.86
16 Hosting Concepts B.V. d/b/a Registrar.eu 1647 1,585,107 2,735 17.25
17 Hostinger, UAB 1636 877,610 2,309 26.31
18 Dynadot, LLC 472 3,122,969 2,266 7.26
19 Web Commerce Communications Limited dba WebNic.cc 460 947,972 2,257 23.81
20 Name.com, Inc. 625 2,230,367 1,879 8.42

To allow comparison of large and small gTLD registrars, we rank registrars based on a metric, phishing domain score, which is calculated by dividing the number of domain names reported for phishing in a registrar by the number of domains delegated from that registrar.

gTLD registrar Phishing Score = (number of phishing domains/domains delegated from gTLD registrar) * 10,000

This score can highlight where high-volume phishers place multiple phish on one domain.

Table 2 presents the twenty gTLD registrars that had the highest phishing domain score.

Ranking of Domain Registrars by Phishing Domain Score (August to October 2022)

Registrars with a minimum of 30,000 domains and 25 phishing domains

Rank Registrar Registrar IANA_ID gTLD Domains
under Management
Phishing Domains Phishing Domain Score ▼
1 NICENIC INTERNATIONAL GROUP CO., LIMITED 3765 33,957 5,810 1710.99
2 Sav.com, LLC 609 1,465,306 19,599 133.75
3 TLD Registrar Solutions Ltd. 1564 75,836 869 114.59
4 OwnRegistrar, Inc. 1250 817,907 4,707 57.55
5 Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC 1606 749,164 3,136 41.86
6 ALIBABA.COM SINGAPORE E-COMMERCE PRIVATE LIMITED 3775 1,242,022 4,659 37.51
7 Cosmotown, Inc. 1509 80,013 299 37.37
8 Alibaba Cloud Computing Ltd. d/b/a HiChina (www.net.cn) 1599 3,216,834 11,783 36.63
9 NameSilo, LLC 1479 4,507,830 15,919 35.31
10 Porkbun LLC 1861 998,854 3,485 34.89
11 NETIM SARL 1519 63,214 205 32.43
12 CNOBIN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LIMITED 3254 156,492 442 28.24
13 Hostinger, UAB 1636 877,610 2,309 26.31
14 Web Commerce Communications Limited dba WebNic.cc 460 947,972 2,257 23.81
15 NetEarth One Inc. d/b/a NetEarth 1005 127,154 297 23.36
16 CV. Jogjacamp 1478 120,625 254 21.06
17 Atak Domain Bilgi Teknolojileri A.Ş. 1601 338,316 661 19.54
18 Internet Domain Service BS Corp 2487 414,833 771 18.59
19 BigRock Solutions Ltd. 1495 210,315 381 18.12
20 PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com 303 4,732,711 8,255 17.44

The final table ranks gTLD registrars by malicious domain registrations.

Ranking of Domain Registrars by Malicious Phishing Domains (August to October 2022)

Registrars with a minimum of 30,000 domains and 25 phishing domains

Rank Registrar Registrar IANA_ID gTLD Domains
under Management
Malicious Phishing
Domain Registrations ▼
Malicious Phishing
Domain Score
1 Sav.com, LLC 609 1,465,306 18,955 129.36
2 NameSilo, LLC 1479 4,507,830 11,432 25.36
3 Alibaba Cloud Computing Ltd. d/b/a HiChina (www.net.cn) 1599 3,216,834 10,578 32.88
4 NameCheap, Inc. 1068 14,325,755 7,979 5.57
5 GoDaddy.com, LLC 146 65,778,642 7,169 1.09
6 GMO Internet, Inc. d/b/a Onamae.com 49 4,753,774 4,345 9.14
7 PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com 303 4,732,711 4,197 8.87
8 ALIBABA.COM SINGAPORE E-COMMERCE PRIVATE LIMITED 3775 1,242,022 3,881 31.25
9 NICENIC INTERNATIONAL GROUP CO., LIMITED 3765 33,957 3,877 1141.74
10 OwnRegistrar, Inc. 1250 817,907 2,976 36.39
11 Google LLC 895 8,086,099 2,797 3.46
12 eNom, LLC 48 4,422,183 2,498 5.65
13 Porkbun LLC 1861 998,854 2,484 24.87
14 Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC 1606 749,164 2,470 32.97
15 Tucows Domains Inc. 69 9,778,324 2,117 2.16
16 Hostinger, UAB 1636 877,610 1,741 19.84
17 Hosting Concepts B.V. d/b/a Registrar.eu 1647 1,585,107 1,390 8.77
18 Dynadot, LLC 472 3,122,969 1,368 4.38
19 Gname.com Pte. Ltd. 1923 1,893,894 1,321 6.98
20 Web Commerce Communications Limited dba WebNic.cc 460 947,972 1,310 13.82

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