Malware Activity: Top-level Domains
Quarter over Quarter Comparison:
April 1, 2021 - June 30, 2021
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 the two consecutive quarters.
Ranking of TLDs by Malware Domains, Quarter over Quarter (April to June 2021)
TLDs with a minimum of 30,000 domains under management and 25 malware domains
| Number of Malware Domains | |||||
| Rank | TLD | January to March 2021 | April to June 2021 ▼ | ||
| 1 | — | com | 9,746 | 8,026 | (-18%) |
| 2 | ▲ +1* | ru | 1,088 | 997 | (-8%) |
| 3 | ▲ +1 | xyz | 455 | 819 | (+80%) |
| 4 | ▲ +19 | buzz | 90 | 666 | (+640%) |
| 5 | ▼ -3 | net | 1,789 | 630 | (-65%) |
| 6 | — | br | 385 | 565 | (+47%) |
| 7 | ▼ -2 | org | 423 | 467 | (+10%) |
| 8 | ▼ -1 | top | 335 | 391 | (+17%) |
| 9 | — | in | 299 | 351 | (+17%) |
| 10 | ▲ +4 | xn--p1ai | 129 | 332 | (+157%) |
| 11 | ▼ -3 | cn | 322 | 278 | (-14%) |
| 12 | ▼ -2 | info | 245 | 214 | (-13%) |
| 13 | N/R** | vip | 15 | 191 | (+1,173%) |
| 14 | ▼ -2 | uk | 166 | 171 | (+3%) |
| 15 | ▲ +5 | online | 103 | 159 | (+54%) |
| 16 | ▼ -1 | co | 124 | 156 | (+26%) |
| 17 | ▲ +41 | cloud | 29 | 153 | (+428%) |
| 18 | ▼ -5 | de | 151 | 130 | (-14%) |
| 19 | ▼ -1 | za | 112 | 121 | (+8%) |
| 20 | ▲ +1 | au | 102 | 107 | (+5%) |
* 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
Quarter over Quarter Comparisons of:
Activity in TLDs