Phishing Activity in Top-level Domains
Quarter over Quarter Comparison
August 1, 2020 - October 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 August to October 2020 period to the rankings for the May to July 2020 period.
Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domains, Quarter over Quarter (August to October 2020)
TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains
| Domains under Management | Number of Phishing Domains | |||||||
| Rank | TLD | May to July 2020 | August to October 2020 | May to July 2020 | August to October 2020 ▼ | |||
| 1 | — | com | 151,931,301 | 150,193,669 | (-1%) | 44,011 | 47,488 | (+8%) |
| 2 | ▲ +1* | tk | 25,644,936 | 24,754,932 | (-3%) | 3,808 | 6,750 | (+77%) |
| 3 | ▼ -1 | xyz | 3,136,553 | 2,871,491 | (-8%) | 4,065 | 5,582 | (+37%) |
| 4 | ▲ +3 | ml | 4,162,031 | 3,546,423 | (-15%) | 2,559 | 5,203 | (+103%) |
| 5 | ▲ +1 | ga | 5,057,226 | 4,310,210 | (-15%) | 2,578 | 3,995 | (+55%) |
| 6 | ▲ +4 | cf | 4,453,018 | 3,956,931 | (-11%) | 1,919 | 3,607 | (+88%) |
| 7 | ▲ +2 | info | 4,787,440 | 4,188,726 | (-13%) | 2,320 | 2,942 | (+27%) |
| 8 | ▲ +3 | gq | 3,692,011 | 3,156,302 | (-15%) | 1,743 | 2,793 | (+60%) |
| 9 | ▼ -1 | net | 13,705,756 | 13,287,890 | (-3%) | 2,324 | 2,735 | (+18%) |
| 10 | ▼ -6 | top | 3,748,802 | 2,187,589 | (-42%) | 3,004 | 2,618 | (-13%) |
| 11 | ▲ +5 | cn | 15,961,895 | 14,676,961 | (-8%) | 1,216 | 2,144 | (+76%) |
| 12 | ▲ +3 | ru | 4,867,074 | 4,880,081 | (0%) | 1,286 | 2,119 | (+65%) |
| 13 | ▼ -1 | org | 10,648,071 | 10,269,395 | (-4%) | 1,649 | 1,955 | (+19%) |
| 14 | ▲ +8 | us | 1,668,953 | 1,663,224 | (-0%) | 712 | 1,685 | (+137%) |
| 15 | ▲ +3 | live | 719,372 | 470,265 | (-35%) | 1,116 | 1,370 | (+23%) |
| 16 | ▲ +5 | uk | 11,849,421 | 10,310,868 | (-13%) | 712 | 1,357 | (+91%) |
| 17 | — | online | 1,586,898 | 1,608,039 | (+1%) | 1,175 | 1,349 | (+15%) |
| 18 | ▼ -5 | icu | 6,611,658 | 4,697,211 | (-29%) | 1,595 | 1,208 | (-24%) |
| 19 | ▼ -14 | buzz | 604,706 | 507,724 | (-16%) | 2,705 | 888 | (-67%) |
| 20 | ▼ -1 | br | 4,442,239 | 3,796,907 | (-15%) | 1,114 | 851 | (-24%) |
* Indicates change over prior quarter
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 (August to October 2020)
TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains
| Domains under Management | Phishing Domain Score | |||||||
| Rank | TLD | May to July 2020 | August to October 2020 | May to July 2020 | August to October 2020 ▼ | |||
| 1 | N/R** | cyou | 35 | 35,430 | (+101,129%) | 5714.3 | 45.4 | (-99%) |
| 2 | ▲ +2* | casa | 30,000 | 40,780 | (+36%) | 28 | 45.1 | (+61%) |
| 3 | ▲ +4 | monster | 104,126 | 103,171 | (-1%) | 17 | 44.4 | (+161%) |
| 4 | ▲ +18 | link | 141,398 | 133,799 | (-5%) | 6.3 | 30.2 | (+380%) |
| 5 | ▲ +3 | live | 719,372 | 470,265 | (-35%) | 15.5 | 29.1 | (+88%) |
| 6 | ▼ -1 | services | 53,454 | 50,882 | (-5%) | 27.9 | 25.2 | (-10%) |
| 7 | ▲ +4 | id | 344,198 | 366,917 | (+7%) | 11.5 | 22.6 | (+96%) |
| 8 | ▲ +1 | xyz | 3,136,553 | 2,871,491 | (-8%) | 13 | 19.4 | (+50%) |
| 9 | ▼ -7 | buzz | 604,706 | 507,724 | (-16%) | 44.7 | 17.5 | (-61%) |
| 10 | ▲ +9 | digital | 58,002 | 75,628 | (+30%) | 7.4 | 17.1 | (+130%) |
| 11 | ▼ -8 | best | 113,614 | 106,609 | (-6%) | 38.1 | 15.1 | (-60%) |
| 12 | ▲ +12 | ml | 4,162,031 | 3,546,423 | (-15%) | 6.2 | 14.7 | (+139%) |
| 13 | ▲ +14 | network | 55,736 | 58,638 | (+5%) | 5.2 | 13.5 | (+159%) |
| 14 | ▲ +4 | center | 41,437 | 38,916 | (-6%) | 7.5 | 12.6 | (+68%) |
| 15 | ▲ +2 | top | 3,748,802 | 2,187,589 | (-42%) | 8 | 12 | (+49%) |
| 16 | N/R | cam | 29,606 | 36,883 | (+25%) | 1.4 | 11.4 | (+744%) |
| 17 | ▲ +23 | cloud | 185,683 | 189,443 | (+2%) | 4.2 | 10.3 | (+148%) |
| 18 | ▲ +19 | us | 1,668,953 | 1,663,224 | (-0%) | 4.3 | 10.1 | (+137%) |
| 19 | ▲ +22 | 106,490 | 108,225 | (+2%) | 4.1 | 10 | (+142%) | |
| 20 | ▲ +5 | pw | 424,602 | 413,586 | (-3%) | 6 | 9.9 | (+66%) |
* 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
Ranking of TLDs by Malicious Domain Registrations, Quarter over Quarter (August to October 2020)
TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains
| Domains under Management | Malicious Domain Registrations | |||||||
| Rank | TLD | May to July 2020 | August to October 2020 | May to July 2020 | August to October 2020 ▼ | |||
| 1 | — | com | 151,931,301 | 150,193,669 | (-1%) | 24,734 | 31,988 | (+29%) |
| 2 | — | tk | 25,644,936 | 24,754,932 | (-3%) | 3,172 | 6,217 | (+96%) |
| 3 | — | xyz | 3,136,553 | 2,871,491 | (-8%) | 2,621 | 4,745 | (+81%) |
| 4 | ▲ +4* | ml | 4,162,031 | 3,546,423 | (-15%) | 1,928 | 4,681 | (+143%) |
| 5 | ▲ +1 | ga | 5,057,226 | 4,310,210 | (-15%) | 2,079 | 3,539 | (+70%) |
| 6 | ▲ +3 | cf | 4,453,018 | 3,956,931 | (-11%) | 1,560 | 3,245 | (+108%) |
| 7 | — | info | 4,787,440 | 4,188,726 | (-13%) | 1,950 | 2,696 | (+38%) |
| 8 | ▲ +2 | gq | 3,692,011 | 3,156,302 | (-15%) | 1,468 | 2,536 | (+73%) |
| 9 | ▼ -4 | top | 3,748,802 | 2,187,589 | (-42%) | 2,126 | 2,263 | (+6%) |
| 10 | ▲ +4 | net | 13,705,756 | 13,287,890 | (-3%) | 997 | 1,786 | (+79%) |
| 11 | ▲ +4 | cn | 15,961,895 | 14,676,961 | (-8%) | 873 | 1,734 | (+99%) |
| 12 | ▲ +7 | us | 1,668,953 | 1,663,224 | (-0%) | 424 | 1,545 | (+264%) |
| 13 | — | live | 719,372 | 470,265 | (-35%) | 1,023 | 1,312 | (+28%) |
| 14 | ▲ +2 | online | 1,586,898 | 1,608,039 | (+1%) | 713 | 1,168 | (+64%) |
| 15 | ▲ +3 | org | 10,648,071 | 10,269,395 | (-4%) | 539 | 1,109 | (+106%) |
| 16 | ▼ -5 | icu | 6,611,658 | 4,697,211 | (-29%) | 1,450 | 1,015 | (-30%) |
| 17 | ▼ -13 | buzz | 604,706 | 507,724 | (-16%) | 2,596 | 853 | (-67%) |
| 18 | ▲ +3 | site | 2,064,082 | 1,535,180 | (-26%) | 397 | 597 | (+50%) |
| 19 | ▲ +3 | ru | 4,867,074 | 4,880,081 | (0%) | 391 | 555 | (+42%) |
| 20 | ▲ +3 | club | 1,428,460 | 1,090,548 | (-24%) | 361 | 528 | (+46%) |
* Indicates change over prior quarter
* Indicates change over prior quarter
** Indicates not ranked in prior quarter; either number of addresses or number of phishing domains did not meet minimum threshold for ranking
Quarter over Quarter Comparisons of:
Activity in TLDs