Phishing Activity: Top-level Domains
Quarter over Quarter Comparison:
November 1, 2020 - January 31 2020
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, 2020 - January 31, 2021 period to the rankings for the August 31, 2020 to October 31, 2020 period.
Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domains, Quarter over Quarter (November 2020 to January 2021)
TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains
| Domains under Management | Number of Phishing Domains | |||||||
| Rank | TLD | August to October 2020 | November 2020 to January 2021 | August to October 2020 | November 2020 to January 2021 ▼ | |||
| 1 | — | com | 150,193,669 | 151,515,643 | (+1%) | 47,488 | 57,789 | (+22%) |
| 2 | — | tk | 24,754,932 | 25,676,473 | (+4%) | 6,750 | 9,237 | (+37%) |
| 3 | ▲ +1* | ml | 3,546,423 | 3,709,952 | (+5%) | 5,203 | 6,327 | (+22%) |
| 4 | ▲ +1 | ga | 4,310,210 | 4,374,267 | (+1%) | 3,995 | 4,995 | (+25%) |
| 5 | ▼ -2 | xyz | 2,871,491 | 2,976,736 | (+4%) | 5,582 | 4,862 | (-13%) |
| 6 | ▲ +5 | cn | 14,676,961 | 12,790,270 | (-13%) | 2,144 | 4,651 | (+117%) |
| 7 | ▲ +22 | shop | 703,943 | 773,435 | (+10%) | 474 | 4,604 | (+871%) |
| 8 | ▼ -2 | cf | 3,956,931 | 4,091,050 | (+3%) | 3,607 | 4,562 | (+26%) |
| 9 | ▼ -1 | gq | 3,156,302 | 3,257,002 | (+3%) | 2,793 | 3,577 | (+28%) |
| 10 | ▼ -3 | info | 4,188,726 | 4,063,006 | (-3%) | 2,942 | 3,418 | (+16%) |
| 11 | ▼ -2 | net | 13,287,890 | 13,200,597 | (-1%) | 2,735 | 2,981 | (+9%) |
| 12 | ▼ -2 | top | 2,187,589 | 1,493,249 | (-32%) | 2,618 | 2,485 | (-5%) |
| 13 | ▼ -1 | ru | 4,880,081 | 4,876,678 | (-0%) | 2,119 | 2,409 | (+14%) |
| 14 | ▼ -1 | org | 10,269,395 | 10,343,838 | (+1%) | 1,955 | 2,224 | (+14%) |
| 15 | ▲ +4 | buzz | 507,724 | 292,949 | (-42%) | 888 | 2,127 | (+140%) |
| 16 | ▼ -1 | live | 470,265 | 392,946 | (-16%) | 1,370 | 1,895 | (+38%) |
| 17 | ▲ +1 | icu | 4,697,211 | 2,636,509 | (-44%) | 1,208 | 1,870 | (+55%) |
| 18 | ▼ -2 | uk | 10,310,868 | 10,379,665 | (+1%) | 1,357 | 1,655 | (+22%) |
| 19 | ▼ -2 | online | 1,608,039 | 1,699,318 | (+6%) | 1,349 | 1,641 | (+22%) |
| 20 | ▲ +7 | cc | 711,058 | 721,405 | (+1%) | 512 | 1,253 | (+145%) |
Table 2 uses the metric phishing score to compare the ranking of TLDs during the August to October 2020 period to the ranking for the May to July 2020 period.
Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domain Score, Quarter over Quarter(November 2020 to January 2021)
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 2020 | November 2020 to January 2021 | August to October 2020 | November 2020 to January 2021 ▼ | |||
| 1 | ▲ +10* | best | 106,609 | 86,257 | (-19%) | 15.1 | 73.6 | (+388%) |
| 2 | ▲ +7 | buzz | 507,724 | 292,949 | (-42%) | 17.5 | 72.6 | (+315%) |
| 3 | ▲ +34 | shop | 703,943 | 773,435 | (+10%) | 6.7 | 59.5 | (+785%) |
| 4 | ▼ -3 | cyou | 35,430 | 63,895 | (+80%) | 45.4 | 58.2 | (+28%) |
| 5 | ▲ +1 | services | 50,882 | 53,522 | (+5%) | 25.2 | 51.2 | (+103%) |
| 6 | ▼ -1 | live | 470,265 | 392,946 | (-16%) | 29.1 | 48.2 | (+66%) |
| 7 | ▼ -4 | monster | 103,171 | 135,032 | (+31%) | 44.4 | 44.4 | (-0%) |
| 8 | ▼ -4 | link | 133,799 | 153,696 | (+15%) | 30.2 | 36.7 | (+22%) |
| 9 | ▲ +1 | digital | 75,628 | 85,587 | (+13%) | 17.1 | 27.3 | (+60%) |
| 10 | ▼ -8 | casa | 40,780 | 46,021 | (+13%) | 45.1 | 21.7 | (-52%) |
| 11 | ▲ +23 | cc | 711,058 | 721,405 | (+1%) | 7.2 | 17.4 | (+141%) |
| 12 | — | ml | 3,546,423 | 3,709,952 | (+5%) | 14.7 | 17.1 | (+16%) |
| 13 | ▲ +2 | top | 2,187,589 | 1,493,249 | (-32%) | 12 | 16.6 | (+39%) |
| 14 | ▲ +5 | 108,225 | 109,279 | (+1%) | 10 | 16.4 | (+64%) | |
| 15 | ▼ -7 | xyz | 2,871,491 | 2,976,736 | (+4%) | 19.4 | 16.3 | (-16%) |
| 16 | ▲ +4 | pw | 413,586 | 379,941 | (-8%) | 9.9 | 14 | (+41%) |
| 17 | ▲ +4 | click | 33,536 | 38,162 | (+14%) | 9.8 | 13.9 | (+41%) |
| 18 | ▼ -4 | center | 38,916 | 39,748 | (+2%) | 12.6 | 13.6 | (+8%) |
| 19 | ▼ -12 | id | 366,917 | 383,585 | (+5%) | 22.6 | 13.5 | (-40%) |
| 20 | ▲ +12 | website | 310,619 | 302,406 | (-3%) | 7.5 | 11.5 | (+54%) |
Quarter over Quarter Comparisons of:
Activity in TLDs