Phishing Activity
Quarter over Quarter Comparison:
August 1, 2021 - October 31, 2021

Top-level Domains

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 two consecutive quarters.

Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domains,
Quarter over Quarter (August to October 2021)

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 2021 August to October 2021 May to July 2021 August to October 2021 ▼
1 com 156,355,371 157,659,393 (+1%) 64,929 75,736 (+17%)
2 cn 9,810,170 9,851,501 (0%) 17,575 32,786 (+87%)
3 ▲ +2* shop 901,904 922,927 (+2%) 10,201 29,243 (+187%)
4 ▼ -1 xyz 3,090,432 3,376,847 (+9%) 11,774 11,083 (-6%)
5 ▼ -1 tk 5,426,258 5,757,727 (+6%) 11,525 6,283 (-45%)
6 ▲ +5 top 1,194,236 1,362,594 (+14%) 4,732 5,524 (+17%)
7 ▲ +1 ml 4,368,720 4,630,221 (+6%) 6,881 5,143 (-25%)
8 ▼ -2 ga 5,702,004 6,284,674 (+10%) 9,729 4,974 (-49%)
9 ▲ +6 info 3,877,086 3,832,511 (-1%) 3,353 4,053 (+21%)
10 ▲ +2 net 13,372,506 13,310,711 (-0%) 3,634 4,016 (+11%)
11 ▲ +5 live 490,620 531,086 (+8%) 2,842 3,437 (+21%)
12 ▼ -3 bar 321,316 376,099 (+17%) 6,218 3,326 (-47%)
13 ▼ -3 cf 4,660,651 4,914,247 (+5%) 4,933 3,048 (-38%)
14 ▲ +4 org 10,476,328 10,501,832 (0%) 2,612 2,710 (+4%)
15 ▼ -2 gq 3,713,473 3,880,956 (+5%) 3,376 2,429 (-28%)
16 ▼ -2 ru 4,871,041 4,932,438 (+1%) 3,367 2,367 (-30%)
17 ▲ +15 cyou 123,217 137,358 (+11%) 589 1,894 (+222%)
18 ▲ +3 online 1,804,788 1,859,805 (+3%) 1,971 1,801 (-9%)
19 ▼ -2 co 3,195,734 3,111,187 (-3%) 2,722 1,725 (-37%)
20 ▲ +10 br 4,156,512 4,254,130 (+2%) 888 1,537 (+73%)

* Indicates change over prior quarter

In the table below, we use the metric phishing domain score to compare the ranking of TLDs for the two consecutive quarters.

Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domain Score,
Quarter over Quarter (August to October 2021)

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 2021 August to October 2021 May to July 2021 August to October 2021 ▼
1 ▲ +2* shop 901,904 922,927 (+2%) 113.1 316.9 (+180%)
2 N/R** support N/A 30,074 (N/A%) N/A 198.8 (N/A%)
3 ▲ +3 cyou 123,217 137,358 (+11%) 47.8 137.9 (+188%)
4 ▼ -3 bar 321,316 376,099 (+17%) 193.5 88.4 (-54%)
5 live 490,620 531,086 (+8%) 57.9 64.7 (+12%)
6 ▲ +21 email 110,534 112,835 (+2%) 16.6 64 (+286%)
7 ▲ +59 ge 46,894 47,216 (+1%) 5.8 62.9 (+992%)
8 ▲ +4 tokyo 153,927 233,469 (+52%) 34.1 58.3 (+71%)
9 ▼ -2 casa 52,994 43,201 (-18%) 44.9 51.2 (+14%)
10 ▲ +3 finance 37,141 41,507 (+12%) 28.3 44.1 (+56%)
11 ▼ -2 top 1,194,236 1,362,594 (+14%) 39.6 40.5 (+2%)
12 ▼ -4 link 129,082 143,599 (+11%) 41 36.8 (-10%)
13 ▲ +12 cn 9,810,170 9,851,501 (0%) 17.9 33.3 (+86%)
14 ▼ -4 xyz 3,090,432 3,376,847 (+9%) 38.1 32.8 (-14%)
15 ▲ +4 rest 44,240 63,556 (+44%) 21 30.2 (+44%)
16 N/R fyi N/A 32,742 (N/A%) N/A 29.9 (N/A%)
17 ▲ +3 digital 99,461 107,434 (+8%) 20.6 27.7 (+35%)
18 ▼ -14 buzz 201,202 314,256 (+56%) 75.6 25.5 (-66%)
19 ▼ -8 cam 42,795 42,251 (-1%) 37.2 24.1 (-35%)
20 ▲ +15 services 55,635 57,537 (+3%) 13.8 17.4 (+26%)

* 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

Quarter over Quarter Comparisons of:

Key Statistics

Activity in TLDs

Activity in Domain Registrars

Activity in Hosting Networks (ASNs)