Malware Activity: Top-level Domains Quarter over Quarter Comparison: October 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023

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 (October to December 2023)

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

Number of Malware Domains
Rank TLD July to September 2023 October to December 2023 ▼
1 com 14,765 18,965 (+28%)
2 net 1,321 1,980 (+50%)
3 ▲ +1* org 986 1,567 (+59%)
4 ▼ -1 info 1,050 1,125 (+7%)
5 ▲ +2 br 720 1,120 (+56%)
6 ▲ +2 uk 490 663 (+35%)
7 ▼ -1 ru 721 631 (-12%)
8 ▲ +2 top 415 597 (+44%)
9 ▲ +3 in 383 536 (+40%)
10 ▼ -1 shop 481 468 (-3%)
11 ▲ +3 de 321 394 (+23%)
12 ▼ -1 xyz 400 384 (-4%)
13 it 321 341 (+6%)
14 ▲ +9 co 175 305 (+74%)
15 pl 289 304 (+5%)
16 ▲ +3 cn 198 303 (+53%)
17 ▼ -1 fr 259 293 (+13%)
18 ▼ -1 id 235 285 (+21%)
19 ▲ +11 online 146 277 (+90%)
20 ▲ +2 au 176 262 (+49%)

* Indicates change over prior quarter


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