Phishing Activity
Quarter over Quarter Comparison:
February 1, 2021 - April 30, 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 during the November 1, 2020 - January 31, 2021 period to the rankings for the February 1, 2021 - April 30, 2021 period.

Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domains,
Quarter over Quarter (February to April 2021)

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

Domains under Management Number of Phishing Domains
Rank TLD November 2020 to January 2021 February to April 2021 November 2020 to January 2021 February to April 2021 ▼
1 com 150,193,669 154,155,492 (+3%) 57,789 59,226 (+2%)
2 tk 24,754,932 4,797,006 (-81%) 9,237 12,336 (+34%)
3 ▲ +2* xyz 2,871,491 3,033,793 (+6%) 4,862 7,953 (+64%)
4 ▼ -1 ml 3,546,423 4,009,918 (+13%) 6,327 7,586 (+20%)
5 ▼ -1 ga 4,310,210 4,968,228 (+15%) 4,995 5,802 (+16%)
6 ▲ +2 cf 3,956,931 4,352,161 (+10%) 4,562 5,086 (+11%)
7 ▲ +2 gq 3,156,302 3,496,937 (+11%) 3,577 4,954 (+38%)
8 ▲ +4 top 2,187,589 1,100,090 (-50%) 2,485 4,485 (+80%)
9 ▼ -3 cn 14,676,961 9,518,054 (-35%) 4,651 3,368 (-28%)
10 ▲ +1 net 13,287,890 13,349,104 (0%) 2,981 3,351 (+12%)
11 N/R** bar 105,226 151,081 (+44%) 22 2,949 (+13,305%)
12 ▼ -2 info 4,188,726 3,950,811 (-6%) 3,418 2,788 (-18%)
13 ru 4,880,081 4,899,116 (0%) 2,409 2,739 (+14%)
14 ▲ +3 icu 4,697,211 626,924 (-87%) 1,870 2,411 (+29%)
15 ▼ -1 org 10,269,395 10,436,774 (+2%) 2,224 2,358 (+6%)
16 live 470,265 444,572 (-5%) 1,895 2,251 (+19%)
17 ▼ -2 buzz 507,724 251,787 (-50%) 2,127 2,166 (+2%)
18 ▲ +1 online 1,608,039 1,790,351 (+11%) 1,641 1,782 (+9%)
19 ▲ +4 club 1,090,548 1,048,604 (-4%) 880 1,532 (+74%)
20 cc 711,058 780,067 (+10%) 1,253 1,370 (+9%)

* 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

In the table below, we use the metric phishing domain 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 (February to April 2021)

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

Domains under Management Phishing Domain Score
Rank TLD November 2020 to January 2021 February to April 2021 November 2020 to January 2021 February to April 2021 ▼
1 N/R** bar 105,226 151,081 (+44%) 2.1 195.2 (+9,239%)
2 ▲ +5* buzz 507,724 251,787 (-50%) 41.9 86 (+105%)
3 ▼ -2 cyou 35,430 93,684 (+164%) 105 66.9 (-36%)
4 ▲ +6 casa 40,780 50,719 (+24%) 24.5 65.9 (+169%)
5 ▲ +52 tokyo 182,118 158,957 (-13%) 3.9 62.7 (+1,507%)
6 ▲ +2 live 470,265 444,572 (-5%) 40.3 50.6 (+26%)
7 ▼ -1 link 133,799 121,120 (-9%) 42.2 41.5 (-1%)
8 ▲ +13 top 2,187,589 1,100,090 (-50%) 11.4 40.8 (+259%)
9 ▲ +47 icu 4,697,211 626,924 (-87%) 4 38.5 (+866%)
10 ▲ +7 center 38,916 40,074 (+3%) 13.9 32.7 (+136%)
11 ▼ -6 services 50,882 55,378 (+9%) 53.9 32 (-41%)
12 ▲ +1 xyz 2,871,491 3,033,793 (+6%) 16.9 26.2 (+55%)
13 ▲ +48 tk 24,754,932 4,797,006 (-81%) 3.7 25.7 (+590%)
14 ▲ +1 click 33,536 56,951 (+70%) 15.8 25.6 (+62%)
15 N/R zone 29,354 32,041 (+9%) 10.9 24 (+120%)
16 ▼ -7 digital 75,628 93,862 (+24%) 30.9 23.9 (-23%)
17 ▲ +10 cam 36,883 53,030 (+44%) 9 21.9 (+144%)
18 ▼ -15 best 106,609 75,200 (-29%) 59.6 21 (-65%)
19 N/R ink 39,232 40,973 (+4%) 5.9 20.3 (+246%)
20 ▲ +9 ke 81,018 84,411 (+4%) 8.3 19.6 (+136%)

Quarter over Quarter Comparisons of:

Key Statistics

Activity in TLDs

Activity in Domain Registrars

Activity in Hosting Networks (ASNs)