Phishing Activity: Top-level Domains Year over Year Comparison: May 1, 2023 - April 30, 2024

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.

In the table below, we use the measurement reported phishing domains to compare the ranking of TLDs for the May 1, 2022 - April 30, 2023 period to those for May 1, 2023 - April 30, 2024.

Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domains, Year over Year (May to April 2024)

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 April 2023 May to April 2024 May to April 2023 May to April 2024 ▼
1 com 159,531,443 156,670,775 (-2%) 333,158 379,669 (+14%)
2 ▲ +2* top 1,945,721 2,768,147 (+42%) 53,286 117,014 (+120%)
3 ▲ +5 xyz 3,610,448 3,371,694 (-7%) 29,946 67,348 (+125%)
4 ▼ -2 cn 7,363,700 8,172,577 (+11%) 117,785 55,627 (-53%)
5 ▲ +2 info 3,737,554 3,589,133 (-4%) 36,346 31,734 (-13%)
6 ▲ +6 shop 1,556,450 2,753,794 (+77%) 22,151 31,179 (+41%)
7 ▲ +7 net 12,965,167 12,796,792 (-1%) 19,075 30,369 (+59%)
8 ▲ +5 online 2,279,920 3,022,683 (+33%) 20,476 26,799 (+31%)
9 ▲ +7 org 10,730,117 10,846,688 (+1%) 15,598 24,270 (+56%)
10 ▲ +53 sbs 99,147 605,035 (+510%) 831 21,962 (+2,543%)
11 ▲ +7 ru 4,890,218 5,510,517 (+13%) 12,271 20,186 (+65%)
12 ▲ +70 lol 89,180 347,972 (+290%) 548 20,096 (+3,567%)
13 ▲ +6 site 1,208,140 1,549,651 (+28%) 10,418 16,893 (+62%)
14 ▲ +35 cfd 198,634 960,007 (+383%) 2,229 13,960 (+526%)
15 ▲ +21 club 597,951 586,166 (-2%) 3,246 13,260 (+309%)
16 ▲ +55 bond 40,289 271,107 (+573%) 698 12,800 (+1,734%)
17 ▼ -11 live 649,941 558,414 (-14%) 39,714 11,922 (-70%)
18 ▲ +14 cc 962,466 1,200,025 (+25%) 4,286 11,583 (+170%)
19 ▲ +19 life 322,212 402,382 (+25%) 3,019 9,602 (+218%)
20 ▲ +5 click 383,173 509,882 (+33%) 6,221 8,222 (+32%)

* Indicates change over prior year

To allow comparison of large and small Top-level Domains, we rank TLDs based on a metric, phishing domain score, which is calculated by dividing the number of domain names reported for phishing in a TLD by the number of domains delegated from that TLD.

TLD Phishing Score = (number of phishing domains/domains delegated from TLD) * 10,000

This score can highlight where high-volume phishers place multiple phish on one domain.

Table 2 compares phishing domain scores and rankings of TLDs for the May 1, 2022 - April 30, 2023 period to those for May 1, 2023 - April 30, 2024.

Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domain Score, Year over Year (May to April 2024)

TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains

Domains under Management Phishing Domain Score
Rank TLD May to April 2023 May to April 2024 May to April 2023 May to April 2024 ▼
1 ▲ +48* lol 89,180 347,972 (+290%) 61.5 577.5 (+840%)
2 ▲ +11 bond 40,289 271,107 (+573%) 173.3 472.1 (+173%)
3 support 32,705 36,274 (+11%) 490.1 434.8 (-11%)
4 ▲ +3 top 1,945,721 2,768,147 (+42%) 273.9 422.7 (+54%)
5 ▲ +34 sbs 99,147 605,035 (+510%) 83.8 363.0 (+333%)
6 ▲ +18 quest 38,515 43,216 (+12%) 129.0 318.6 (+147%)
7 ▲ +13 best 46,144 64,022 (+39%) 144.1 302.1 (+110%)
8 ▲ +6 finance 40,565 34,293 (-15%) 167.9 259.8 (+55%)
9 ▲ +26 tk 4,729,434 79,478 (-98%) 88.4 258.8 (+193%)
10 ▲ +30 pics 43,610 62,187 (+43%) 83.2 256.5 (+208%)
11 ▲ +22 life 322,212 402,382 (+25%) 93.7 238.6 (+155%)
12 ▲ +42 club 597,951 586,166 (-2%) 54.3 226.2 (+317%)
13 ▲ +10 fyi 57,879 60,427 (+4%) 137.9 224.9 (+63%)
14 ▲ +14 win 79,476 92,678 (+17%) 104.1 221.7 (+113%)
15 ▼ -13 live 649,941 558,414 (-14%) 611.0 213.5 (-65%)
16 ▲ +25 xyz 3,610,448 3,371,694 (-7%) 82.9 199.8 (+141%)
17 ▼ -5 buzz 419,848 271,549 (-35%) 191.2 175.6 (-8%)
18 N/R** autos 27,617 42,608 (+54%) 93.4 163.4 (+75%)
19 ▼ -4 click 383,173 509,882 (+33%) 162.4 161.3 (-1%)
20 ▲ +23 ink 60,966 79,156 (+30%) 77.1 154.6 (+101%)

* Indicates change over prior year

** Indicates not ranked in prior year; either domains under management or number of phishing domains did not meet minimum threshold for ranking

The final table compares and ranks TLDs by malicious domain registrations.

Ranking of TLDs by Malicious Domain Registrations, Year over Year (May to April 2024)

TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 phishing domains

Domains under Management Malicious Domain Registrations
Rank TLD May to April 2023 May to April 2024 May to April 2023 May to April 2024 ▼
1 com 159,531,443 156,670,775 (-2%) 223,364 275,134 (+23%)
2 ▲ +1* top 1,945,721 2,768,147 (+42%) 51,459 115,247 (+124%)
3 ▲ +4 xyz 3,610,448 3,371,694 (-7%) 24,240 62,439 (+158%)
4 ▲ +5 shop 1,556,450 2,753,794 (+77%) 20,211 31,129 (+54%)
5 ▲ +1 info 3,737,554 3,589,133 (-4%) 32,249 28,076 (-13%)
6 ▼ -2 cn 7,363,700 8,172,577 (+11%) 46,079 26,354 (-43%)
7 ▲ +4 online 2,279,920 3,022,683 (+33%) 16,682 22,727 (+36%)
8 ▲ +5 net 12,965,167 12,796,792 (-1%) 11,228 22,048 (+96%)
9 ▲ +43 sbs 99,147 605,035 (+510%) 735 21,683 (+2,850%)
10 ▲ +50 lol 89,180 347,972 (+290%) 458 19,933 (+4,252%)
11 ▲ +4 org 10,730,117 10,846,688 (+1%) 8,962 18,712 (+109%)
12 ▲ +6 ru 4,890,218 5,510,517 (+13%) 7,559 16,054 (+112%)
13 ▲ +3 site 1,208,140 1,549,651 (+28%) 8,539 14,495 (+70%)
14 ▲ +25 cfd 198,634 960,007 (+383%) 2,049 13,428 (+555%)
15 ▲ +21 club 597,951 586,166 (-2%) 2,371 12,749 (+438%)
16 ▲ +39 bond 40,289 271,107 (+573%) 652 12,716 (+1,850%)
17 ▼ -12 live 649,941 558,414 (-14%) 36,938 10,248 (-72%)
18 ▲ +11 cc 962,466 1,200,025 (+25%) 2,845 9,878 (+247%)
19 ▲ +12 life 322,212 402,382 (+25%) 2,588 9,048 (+250%)
20 ▲ +2 click 383,173 509,882 (+33%) 5,679 7,548 (+33%)

* Indicates change over prior year


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