Malware Activity: Top-level Domains Quarter over Quarter Comparison: July 1,2025 - September 30,2025

For purposes of observing change over time, it is useful to compare measurements and metrics over successive reporting periods. Such comparisons illustrate whether malware activities are increasing or decreasing, and where such changes are occurring. Such comparisons can identify TLDs that are persistently abused or exploited to host malware. Investigators or policy makers may focus on these for deeper analyses.

In the table below, we compare number of domains reported for hosting malware in TLDs for two consecutive quarters.

Complete lists of Top-level Domains, gTLD registrars and hosting networks (ASNs) where malware was reported for the quarter can be downloaded in CSV format from the Records page.

Ranking of TLDs by Malware Domains, Quarter over Quarter (July to September 2025)

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

Number of Malware Domains
Rank TLD April to June 2025 July to September 2025 ▼
1 com 11,414 10,437 (-9%)
2 ▲ +3* ru 663 1,341 (+102%)
3 ▲ +1 top 763 915 (+20%)
4 ▼ -2 net 1,373 630 (-54%)
5 ▲ +1 org 540 621 (+15%)
6 ▲ +36 life 54 500 (+826%)
7 ▼ -4 xyz 766 427 (-44%)
8 ▲ +2 shop 280 351 (+25%)
9 ▲ +14 online 144 304 (+111%)
10 ▲ +4 info 244 273 (+12%)
11 ▲ +15 site 123 231 (+88%)
12 ▲ +22 cfd 93 213 (+129%)
13 ▼ -2 cn 278 210 (-24%)
14 ▼ -5 cc 282 202 (-28%)
15 ▲ +10 click 125 190 (+52%)
16 ▲ +2 it 193 178 (-8%)
17 ▲ +10 sbs 113 178 (+58%)
18 ▲ +1 br 186 174 (-6%)
19 ▼ -11 pl 283 169 (-40%)
20 N/R** qpon 6 166 (+2,667%)

* Indicates change over prior quarter

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


Quarterly Update:
Top Level Domains
Quarter over Quarter:
Key Statistics
Quarter over Quarter:
Top Level Domains
Quarter over Quarter:
Registrars
Quarter over Quarter:
Hosting Networks