Phishing Activity in Domain Registrars
November 1, 2021 - January 31, 2022
Phishers compose hostnames and URLs from domain names that they register purposely for phishing 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 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.
For the period, we identified 115 domain registrars with 30,000 domains under management and at least 25 reported phishing domains.
- 61 registrars had more than 100 reported phishing domains.
- 30 registrars had more than 500 reported phishing domains.
- 22 registrars had more than 1000 reported phishing domains.
- 5 registrars had more than 5000 reported phishing domains.
Measurements of reported phishing domains can identify registrars where 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 twenty domain name Registrars with the highest number of reported phishing domains under management.
Ranking of Domain Registrars by Phishing Domains (November 2021 to January 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 | NameCheap, Inc. | 1068 | 13,035,543 | 24,422 | 18.73 |
2 | GoDaddy.com, LLC | 146 | 65,538,336 | 11,826 | 1.80 |
3 | NameSilo, LLC | 1479 | 4,310,990 | 7,593 | 17.61 |
4 | ALIBABA.COM SINGAPORE E-COMMERCE PRIVATE LIMITED | 3775 | 1,677,442 | 6,200 | 36.96 |
5 | PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com | 303 | 5,012,480 | 5,699 | 11.37 |
6 | Web Commerce Communications Limited dba WebNic.cc | 460 | 648,122 | 3,475 | 53.62 |
7 | Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC | 1606 | 692,481 | 3,249 | 46.92 |
8 | eNom, LLC | 48 | 4,749,416 | 2,918 | 6.14 |
9 | OwnRegistrar, Inc. | 1250 | 110,918 | 2,155 | 194.29 |
10 | Tucows Domains Inc. | 69 | 10,242,631 | 2,033 | 1.98 |
11 | Wild West Domains, LLC | 440 | 2,934,702 | 1,900 | 6.47 |
12 | Wix.com Ltd. | 3817 | 2,206,521 | 1,769 | 8.02 |
13 | Name.com, Inc. | 625 | 2,169,656 | 1,722 | 7.94 |
14 | Sav.com, LLC | 609 | 865,817 | 1,718 | 19.84 |
15 | Porkbun LLC | 1861 | 793,832 | 1,559 | 19.64 |
16 | GMO Internet, Inc. d/b/a Onamae.com | 49 | 4,551,922 | 1,493 | 3.28 |
17 | Hosting Concepts B.V. d/b/a Registrar.eu | 1647 | 1,646,192 | 1,458 | 8.86 |
18 | Google LLC | 895 | 6,913,254 | 1,432 | 2.07 |
19 | Alibaba Cloud Computing Ltd. d/b/a HiChina (www.net.cn) | 1599 | 2,127,512 | 1,359 | 6.39 |
20 | Dynadot, LLC | 472 | 2,741,693 | 1,317 | 4.80 |
To allow comparison of large and small Registrars, we also rank Registrars based on a metric, phishing domain score, which is calculated by dividing the number of domain names reported for phishing that are sponsored by a registrar by the number of domains that the registrar has under management.
Registrar Phishing Score = (number of phishing domains/Registrar DUM) * 10,000
This score can be helpful to identify registrars where analyses of business practices, account security, or pricing might prove useful.
The table below shows the twenty domain registrars with the highest phishing domain score.
Ranking of Domain Registrars by Phishing Domain Score (November 2021 to January 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 | OwnRegistrar, Inc. | 1250 | 110,918 | 2,155 | 194.29 |
2 | Web Commerce Communications Limited dba WebNic.cc | 460 | 648,122 | 3,475 | 53.62 |
3 | Registrar of Domain Names REG.RU LLC | 1606 | 692,481 | 3,249 | 46.92 |
4 | Eranet International Limited | 1868 | 199,365 | 871 | 43.69 |
5 | ALIBABA.COM SINGAPORE E-COMMERCE PRIVATE LIMITED | 3775 | 1,677,442 | 6,200 | 36.96 |
6 | NETIM SARL | 1519 | 47,688 | 168 | 35.23 |
7 | Reserved | 1 | 81,293 | 280 | 34.44 |
8 | TLD Registrar Solutions Ltd. | 1564 | 98,918 | 331 | 33.46 |
9 | Internet Domain Service BS Corp | 2487 | 488,629 | 1,051 | 21.51 |
10 | CloudFlare, Inc. | 1910 | 380,063 | 765 | 20.13 |
11 | Sav.com, LLC | 609 | 865,817 | 1,718 | 19.84 |
12 | Porkbun LLC | 1861 | 793,832 | 1,559 | 19.64 |
13 | BigRock Solutions Ltd. | 1495 | 231,073 | 451 | 19.52 |
14 | NameCheap, Inc. | 1068 | 13,035,543 | 24,422 | 18.73 |
15 | NameSilo, LLC | 1479 | 4,310,990 | 7,593 | 17.61 |
16 | Hostinger, UAB | 1636 | 614,559 | 744 | 12.11 |
17 | Marcaria.com International, Inc. | 1086 | 34,460 | 41 | 11.90 |
18 | Domainshype.com, LLC | 1660 | 33,314 | 39 | 11.71 |
19 | PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com | 303 | 5,012,480 | 5,699 | 11.37 |
20 | OpenTLD B.V. | 1666 | 31,660 | 33 | 10.42 |
Activity in Domain Registrars