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Cyber Risks · Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks

A Peek into Top-Level Domains and Cybercrime

Summary: Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 found that the top 25 TLDs by number of malicious domains account for more than 90% of all malicious domain names, and that nearly half of malicious domains are .com domains, based on data collected Oct. 7, 2021. Six of the top 10 TLDs by malicious domain rate are TLDs of developing countries, with .zw seven standard deviations above the average malicious rate and .pw over seven standard deviations above the average for phishing registrations.

What you should know: More than 99% of command-and-control domains are concentrated in just 29 TLDs, so a registry-level blocking decision reaches a large share of criminal infrastructure at once. The .tk, .pw and .ws TLDs show malicious-domain-per-capita ratios 271,768, 2,373 and 610 times that of Germany's .de, and free registration policies at Freenom-run TLDs keep those numbers high.

Read the original at Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks ↗

Topics
Malware
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