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

Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domains,
Quarter over Quarter
(May to July 2021)

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

Domains under Management Number of Phishing Domains
Rank TLD February to April 2021 May to July 2021 February to April 2021 May to July 2021 ▼
1 com 154,155,492 156,355,371 (+1%) 59,226 64,929 (+10%)
2 ▲ +7* cn 9,518,054 9,810,170 (+3%) 3,368 17,575 (+422%)
3 xyz 3,033,793 3,090,432 (+2%) 7,953 11,774 (+48%)
4 ▼ -2 tk 4,797,006 5,426,258 (+13%) 12,336 11,525 (-7%)
5 ▲ +17 shop 811,478 901,904 (+11%) 1,323 10,201 (+671%)
6 ▼ -1 ga 4,968,228 5,702,004 (+15%) 5,802 9,729 (+68%)
7 ▲ +23 work 558,613 572,567 (+2%) 835 9,325 (+1,017%)
8 ▼ -4 ml 4,009,918 4,368,720 (+9%) 7,586 6,881 (-9%)
9 ▲ +2 bar 151,081 321,316 (+113%) 2,949 6,218 (+111%)
10 ▼ -4 cf 4,352,161 4,660,651 (+7%) 5,086 4,933 (-3%)
11 ▼ -3 top 1,100,090 1,194,236 (+9%) 4,485 4,732 (+6%)
12 ▼ -2 net 13,349,104 13,372,506 (0%) 3,351 3,634 (+8%)
13 ▼ -6 gq 3,496,937 3,713,473 (+6%) 4,954 3,376 (-32%)
14 ▼ -1 ru 4,899,116 4,871,041 (-1%) 2,739 3,367 (+23%)
15 ▼ -3 info 3,950,811 3,877,086 (-2%) 2,788 3,353 (+20%)
16 live 444,572 490,620 (+10%) 2,251 2,842 (+26%)
17 ▲ +7 co 3,040,967 3,195,734 (+5%) 1,162 2,722 (+134%)
18 ▼ -3 org 10,436,774 10,476,328 (0%) 2,358 2,612 (+11%)
19 ▲ +37 ir 1,128,257 1,156,828 (+3%) 211 2,555 (+1,111%)
20 ▼ -1 club 1,048,604 1,066,645 (+2%) 1,532 2,013 (+31%)

* Indicates change over prior quarter

In the table below, we use the metric phishing domain score to compare the ranking of TLDs during the February 1, 2021 - April 30, 2021 period to the rankings for the May 1, 2021 - July 31, 2021 period.

Ranking of TLDs by Phishing Domain Score,
Quarter over Quarter
(May to July 2021)

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

Domains under Management Phishing Domain Score
Rank TLD February to April 2021 May to July 2021 February to April 2021 May to July 2021 ▼
1 bar 151,081 321,316 (+113%) 195.2 193.5 (-1%)
2 ▲ +30* work 558,613 572,567 (+2%) 15 162.9 (+989%)
3 ▲ +27 shop 811,478 901,904 (+11%) 16.3 113.1 (+594%)
4 ▼ -2 buzz 251,787 201,202 (-20%) 86 75.6 (-12%)
5 ▲ +1 live 444,572 490,620 (+10%) 50.6 57.9 (+14%)
6 ▼ -3 cyou 93,684 123,217 (+32%) 66.9 47.8 (-29%)
7 ▼ -3 casa 50,719 52,994 (+4%) 65.9 44.9 (-32%)
8 ▼ -1 link 121,120 129,082 (+7%) 41.5 41 (-1%)
9 ▼ -1 top 1,100,090 1,194,236 (+9%) 40.8 39.6 (-3%)
10 ▲ +2 xyz 3,033,793 3,090,432 (+2%) 26.2 38.1 (+45%)
11 ▲ +6 cam 53,030 42,795 (-19%) 21.9 37.2 (+70%)
12 ▼ -7 tokyo 158,957 153,927 (-3%) 62.7 34.1 (-46%)
13 N/R** finance N/A 37,141 (N/A%) N/A 28.3 (N/A%)
14 ▲ +61 asia 196,517 199,819 (+2%) 4 23.4 (+481%)
15 ▲ +19 pro 268,847 265,332 (-1%) 14.2 23.3 (+64%)
16 ▼ -7 icu 626,924 567,983 (-9%) 38.5 22.7 (-41%)
17 ▲ +88 ir 1,128,257 1,156,828 (+3%) 1.9 22.1 (+1,081%)
18 ▼ -5 tk 4,797,006 5,426,258 (+13%) 25.7 21.2 (-17%)
19 ▲ +10 rest 32,994 44,240 (+34%) 16.4 21 (+28%)
20 ▼ -4 digital 93,862 99,461 (+6%) 23.9 20.6 (-14%)

* 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)