Phishing Activity in Domain Registrars, February 1, 2023 - April 30, 2023

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 (February to April 2023)

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 NameSilo, LLC 1479 4,452,651 16,068 36.09
2 PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com 303 4,429,499 15,282 34.50
3 NameCheap, Inc. 1068 14,666,675 11,517 7.85
4 GoDaddy.com, LLC 146 65,664,751 10,282 1.57
5 Sav.com, LLC 609 1,633,675 5,821 35.63
6 Google LLC 895 8,629,289 4,395 5.09
7 Hostinger, UAB 1636 1,145,936 4,134 36.08
8 eNom, LLC 48 4,239,904 3,548 8.37
9 Gname.com Pte. Ltd. 1923 2,749,023 3,192 11.61
10 Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC 1606 650,515 3,163 48.62
11 NICENIC INTERNATIONAL GROUP CO., LIMITED 3765 50,833 3,104 610.63
12 GMO Internet Group, Inc. d/b/a Onamae.com 49 4,353,902 3,043 6.99
13 Chengdu West Dimension Digital Technology Co., Ltd. 1556 1,654,503 2,967 17.93
14 Tucows Domains Inc. 69 9,680,797 2,630 2.72
15 Internet Domain Service BS Corp 2487 404,954 2,512 62.03
16 Dynadot, LLC 472 3,023,913 2,129 7.04
17 Web Commerce Communications Limited dba WebNic.cc 460 813,704 1,971 24.22
18 Name.com, Inc. 625 2,153,074 1,874 8.70
19 Alibaba Cloud Computing Ltd. d/b/a HiChina (www.net.cn) 1599 2,977,281 1,627 5.46
20 OwnRegistrar, Inc. 1250 902,935 1,526 16.90

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 (February to April 2023)

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 50,833 3,104 610.63
2 Internet Domain Service BS Corp 2487 404,954 2,512 62.03
3 Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC 1606 650,515 3,163 48.62
4 Lexsynergy Limited 1466 39,596 173 43.69
5 TLD Registrar Solutions Ltd. 1564 71,753 282 39.30
6 NameSilo, LLC 1479 4,452,651 16,068 36.09
7 Hostinger, UAB 1636 1,145,936 4,134 36.08
8 Sav.com, LLC 609 1,633,675 5,821 35.63
9 DOTSERVE INC. 1913 61,910 215 34.73
10 PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com 303 4,429,499 15,282 34.50
11 iNET CORPORATION 3234 65,237 171 26.21
12 Cosmotown, Inc. 1509 158,260 395 24.96
13 Web Commerce Communications Limited dba WebNic.cc 460 813,704 1,971 24.22
14 Atak Domain Bilgi Teknolojileri A.Ş. 1601 286,375 635 22.17
15 Gransy, s.r.o. 1505 228,495 501 21.93
16 ALIBABA.COM SINGAPORE E-COMMERCE PRIVATE LIMITED 3775 693,065 1,486 21.44
17 Hello Internet Corp. 1924 47,815 87 18.20
18 Chengdu West Dimension Digital Technology Co., Ltd. 1556 1,654,503 2,967 17.93
19 OwnRegistrar, Inc. 1250 902,935 1,526 16.90
20 NETIM SARL 1519 74,360 124 16.68

The final table ranks gTLD registrars by malicious domain registrations.

Ranking of Domain Registrars by Malicious Phishing Domains (February to April 2023)

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 NameSilo, LLC 1479 4,452,651 13,715 30.80
2 PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com 303 4,429,499 11,020 24.88
3 NameCheap, Inc. 1068 14,666,675 7,720 5.26
4 Sav.com, LLC 609 1,633,675 5,185 31.74
5 GoDaddy.com, LLC 146 65,664,751 5,079 0.77
6 Google LLC 895 8,629,289 3,624 4.20
7 Hostinger, UAB 1636 1,145,936 3,006 26.23
8 NICENIC INTERNATIONAL GROUP CO., LIMITED 3765 50,833 2,732 537.45
9 Chengdu West Dimension Digital Technology Co., Ltd. 1556 1,654,503 2,717 16.42
10 eNom, LLC 48 4,239,904 2,625 6.19
11 GMO Internet Group, Inc. d/b/a Onamae.com 49 4,353,902 2,467 5.67
12 Gname.com Pte. Ltd. 1923 2,749,023 2,192 7.97
13 Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC 1606 650,515 2,166 33.30
14 Tucows Domains Inc. 69 9,680,797 1,654 1.71
15 Dynadot, LLC 472 3,023,913 1,479 4.89
16 Web Commerce Communications Limited dba WebNic.cc 460 813,704 1,433 17.61
17 Name.com, Inc. 625 2,153,074 1,322 6.14
18 Internet Domain Service BS Corp 2487 404,954 1,182 29.19
19 ALIBABA.COM SINGAPORE E-COMMERCE PRIVATE LIMITED 3775 693,065 1,137 16.41
20 Key-Systems GmbH 269 2,125,650 1,126 5.30

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