Phishing Activity: Top-level Domains
Quarter over Quarter Comparison:
February 1, 2022 - April 30, 2022
For purposes of observing change over time, it is useful to compare measurements and metrics over successive reporting periods. Such comparisons illustrate whether phishing activities are increasing or decreasing, and where such changes are occurring. Such comparisons can identify TLDs that are persistently abused or exploited by phishers. Investigators or policy makers may focus on these for deeper analyses.
Table 1 uses the measurement reported phishing domains to compare the ranking of TLDs during the November 31, 2021 - January 31, 2022 period to the rankings for the February 1, 2022 - April 30, 2022 period.
Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domains, Quarter over Quarter (February to April 2022)
TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains
| Domains under Management | Number of Phishing Domains | |||||||
| Rank | TLD | November 2021 to January 2022 | February to April 2022 | November 2021 to January 2022 | February to April 2022 ▼ | |||
| 1 | — | com | 159,001,848 | 159,902,632 | (+1%) | 79,341 | 82,562 | (+4%) |
| 2 | — | cn | 9,692,024 | 8,980,611 | (-7%) | 26,033 | 29,204 | (+12%) |
| 3 | — | tk | 5,586,719 | 5,041,535 | (-10%) | 10,941 | 9,136 | (-16%) |
| 4 | ▲ +1* | ml | 5,004,676 | 5,344,979 | (+7%) | 8,520 | 8,656 | (+2%) |
| 5 | ▼ -1 | xyz | 3,645,935 | 4,130,573 | (+13%) | 8,929 | 7,462 | (-16%) |
| 6 | ▲ +25 | buzz | 488,987 | 513,201 | (+5%) | 862 | 6,923 | (+703%) |
| 7 | ▲ +9 | shop | 976,348 | 1,040,404 | (+7%) | 2,780 | 6,069 | (+118%) |
| 8 | — | cf | 5,163,898 | 5,383,367 | (+4%) | 5,465 | 4,676 | (-14%) |
| 9 | ▲ +1 | net | 13,243,353 | 13,170,783 | (-1%) | 4,372 | 4,496 | (+3%) |
| 10 | ▼ -4 | ga | 6,721,278 | 7,049,929 | (+5%) | 7,064 | 4,392 | (-38%) |
| 11 | ▲ +9 | us | 1,761,332 | 1,844,273 | (+5%) | 1,733 | 3,792 | (+119%) |
| 12 | ▼ -3 | gq | 4,154,606 | 4,307,508 | (+4%) | 5,425 | 3,590 | (-34%) |
| 13 | ▼ -1 | live | 568,840 | 596,948 | (+5%) | 3,582 | 3,468 | (-3%) |
| 14 | ▼ -1 | org | 10,571,742 | 10,614,272 | (0%) | 3,057 | 3,444 | (+13%) |
| 15 | ▼ -4 | info | 3,784,123 | 3,653,720 | (-3%) | 3,595 | 3,145 | (-13%) |
| 16 | ▼ -2 | online | 1,849,526 | 1,847,551 | (-0%) | 2,889 | 3,039 | (+5%) |
| 17 | ▲ +2 | ru | 4,966,202 | 4,995,267 | (+1%) | 2,079 | 2,843 | (+37%) |
| 18 | ▲ +3 | site | 1,032,613 | 1,007,427 | (-2%) | 1,692 | 2,513 | (+49%) |
| 19 | ▼ -2 | top | 1,489,263 | 1,710,824 | (+15%) | 2,538 | 2,247 | (-11%) |
| 20 | ▼ -2 | co | 3,288,801 | 3,396,167 | (+3%) | 2,153 | 1,621 | (-25%) |
Table 2 uses the metric phishing score to compare the ranking of TLDs for the two measurement periods.
Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domain Score, Quarter over Quarter (November 2021 to January 2022)
TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains
| Domains under Management | Phishing Domain Score | |||||||
| Rank | TLD | August to October 2021 | November 2021 to January 2022 | August to October 2021 | November 2021 to January 2022 ▼ | |||
| 1 | ▲ +1* | support | 30,074 | 30,871 | (+3%) | 198.8 | 187.2 | (-6%) |
| 2 | ▲ +2 | bar | 376,099 | 408,610 | (+9%) | 88.4 | 152.2 | (+72%) |
| 3 | ▲ +7 | finance | 41,507 | 48,891 | (+18%) | 44.1 | 92 | (+109%) |
| 4 | ▲ +1 | live | 531,086 | 568,840 | (+7%) | 64.7 | 63 | (-3%) |
| 5 | ▲ +11 | fyi | 32,742 | 36,636 | (+12%) | 29.9 | 50.8 | (+70%) |
| 6 | — | 112,835 | 111,637 | (-1%) | 64 | 46.2 | (-28%) | |
| 7 | ▲ +65 | store | 634,038 | 710,582 | (+12%) | 4.3 | 39.3 | (+811%) |
| 8 | ▲ +7 | rest | 63,556 | 70,884 | (+12%) | 30.2 | 39.1 | (+29%) |
| 9 | ▲ +34 | fun | 221,279 | 265,918 | (+20%) | 9.4 | 39 | (+314%) |
| 10 | ▲ +18 | pw | 330,173 | 323,386 | (-2%) | 12.9 | 35.5 | (+175%) |
| 11 | ▲ +1 | link | 143,599 | 156,074 | (+9%) | 36.8 | 34.1 | (-7%) |
| 12 | ▲ +11 | click | 88,614 | 122,252 | (+38%) | 14.6 | 32.4 | (+122%) |
| 13 | ▼ -12 | shop | 922,927 | 976,348 | (+6%) | 316.9 | 28.5 | (-91%) |
| 14 | ▲ +28 | space | 319,453 | 352,307 | (+10%) | 9.5 | 28.2 | (+198%) |
| 15 | ▼ -2 | cn | 9,851,501 | 9,692,024 | (-2%) | 33.3 | 26.9 | (-19%) |
| 16 | ▲ +1 | digital | 107,434 | 113,619 | (+6%) | 27.7 | 24.7 | (-11%) |
| 17 | ▼ -3 | xyz | 3,376,847 | 3,645,935 | (+8%) | 32.8 | 24.5 | (-25%) |
| 18 | ▲ +2 | services | 57,537 | 58,786 | (+2%) | 17.4 | 24.2 | (+39%) |
| 19 | N/R** | to | 29,465 | 30,921 | (+5%) | 11.2 | 23.9 | (+114%) |
| 20 | ▼ -11 | casa | 43,201 | 38,163 | (-12%) | 51.2 | 23.9 | (-53%) |
* Indicates change over prior quarter
** Indicates not ranked in prior quarter; either domains under management or number of phishing domains did not meet minimum threshold for ranking
In the table below, we compare and rank TLDs by malicious domain registrations.
Ranking of TLDs by Malicious Domain Registrations, Quarter over Quarter (February to April 2022)
TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains
| Domains under Management | Malicious Domain Registrations | |||||||
| Rank | TLD | November 2021 to January 2022 | February to April 2022 | November 2021 to January 2022 | February to April 2022 ▼ | |||
| 1 | — | com | 159,001,848 | 159,902,632 | (+1%) | 47,129 | 56,175 | (+19%) |
| 2 | — | tk | 5,586,719 | 5,041,535 | (-10%) | 10,941 | 9,136 | (-16%) |
| 3 | — | ml | 5,004,676 | 5,344,979 | (+7%) | 8,520 | 8,656 | (+2%) |
| 4 | ▲ +20* | buzz | 488,987 | 513,201 | (+5%) | 822 | 6,865 | (+735%) |
| 5 | ▼ -1 | xyz | 3,645,935 | 4,130,573 | (+13%) | 8,156 | 6,288 | (-23%) |
| 6 | ▲ +9 | shop | 976,348 | 1,040,404 | (+7%) | 2,298 | 5,426 | (+136%) |
| 7 | — | cf | 5,163,898 | 5,383,367 | (+4%) | 5,465 | 4,676 | (-14%) |
| 8 | ▲ +1 | cn | 9,692,024 | 8,980,611 | (-7%) | 3,080 | 4,493 | (+46%) |
| 9 | ▼ -4 | ga | 6,721,278 | 7,049,929 | (+5%) | 7,064 | 4,392 | (-38%) |
| 10 | ▼ -2 | gq | 4,154,606 | 4,307,508 | (+4%) | 5,425 | 3,590 | (-34%) |
| 11 | ▲ +8 | us | 1,761,332 | 1,844,273 | (+5%) | 1,044 | 3,043 | (+191%) |
| 12 | ▼ -2 | live | 568,840 | 596,948 | (+5%) | 2,868 | 2,933 | (+2%) |
| 13 | ▼ -1 | info | 3,784,123 | 3,653,720 | (-3%) | 2,674 | 2,525 | (-6%) |
| 14 | — | net | 13,243,353 | 13,170,783 | (-1%) | 2,418 | 2,422 | (+0%) |
| 15 | ▼ -2 | online | 1,849,526 | 1,847,551 | (-0%) | 2,555 | 2,198 | (-14%) |
| 16 | — | top | 1,489,263 | 1,710,824 | (+15%) | 2,105 | 2,001 | (-5%) |
| 17 | ▲ +1 | site | 1,032,613 | 1,007,427 | (-2%) | 1,381 | 1,978 | (+43%) |
| 18 | ▼ -1 | org | 10,571,742 | 10,614,272 | (0%) | 1,540 | 1,880 | (+22%) |
| 19 | ▲ +1 | ru | 4,966,202 | 4,995,267 | (+1%) | 1,004 | 1,754 | (+75%) |
| 20 | ▲ +10 | icu | 627,038 | 1,092,501 | (+74%) | 449 | 1,466 | (+227%) |
* Indicates change over prior quarter
Quarter over Quarter Comparisons of:
Activity in TLDs