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Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report: DNIB.com Announces 359.8 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Fourth Quarter of 2023

By Verisign

Today, the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report was released by DNIB.com, showing the fourth quarter of 2023 closed with 359.8 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 0.6 million domain name registrations, or 0.2%, compared to the third quarter of 2023. Domain name registrations also increased by 8.9 million, or 2.5%, year over year.

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report to see domain name stats from the fourth quarter of 2023, including:

  • Top 10 largest TLDs by number of reported domain names
  • Top 10 largest ccTLDs by number of reported domain names
  • ngTLDs as percentage of total TLDs
  • Geographical ngTLDs as percentage of total corresponding geographical TLDs

DNIB.com and The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report are sponsored by Verisign. To see past issues of the quarterly report, interactive dashboards and learn about DNIB.com’s statistical methodology, please visit DNIB.com.

The post Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report: DNIB.com Announces 359.8 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Fourth Quarter of 2023 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report: DNIB.com Announces 359.3 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Third Quarter of 2023

By Verisign

Today, the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report was released by DNIB.com, showing the third quarter of 2023 closed with 359.3 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 2.7 million domain name registrations, or 0.8%, compared to the second quarter of 2023. Domain name registrations also increased by 8.5 million, or 2.4%, year over year.

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report to see domain name stats from the third quarter of 2023, including:

  • Top 10 largest TLDs by number of reported domain names
  • Top 10 largest ccTLDs by number of reported domain names
  • ngTLDs as percentage of total TLDs
  • Geographical ngTLDs as percentage of total corresponding geographical TLDs

DNIB.com and The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report are sponsored by Verisign. To see past issues of the quarterly report, interactive dashboards, and learn about DNIB.com’s statistical methodology, please visit DNIB.com.

The post Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report: DNIB.com Announces 359.3 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Third Quarter of 2023 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report: DNIB.com announces 356.6 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Second Quarter of 2023

By Verisign

Today, the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report was released by DNIB.com, showing the second quarter of 2023 closed with 356.6 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 1.7 million domain name registrations, or 0.5%, compared to the first quarter of 2023. Domain name registrations also increased by 4.3 million, or 1.2%, year over year.


Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report to see domain name stats from the second quarter of 2023, including:

  • Top 10 largest TLDs by number of reported domain names
  • Top 10 largest ccTLDs by number of reported domain names
  • ngTLDs as percentage of total TLDs
  • Geographical ngTLDs as percentage of total corresponding geographical TLDs

With the launch of the DNIB.com dashboards, 16 additional TLDs have been included in applicable calculations. The applicable current and historical data presented in this edition of the quarterly report have been adjusted accordingly, and applicable quarterly and year-over-year trends have been calculated using those adjusted figures. More information is available at DNIB.com.

DNIB.com and the Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report are sponsored by Verisign. To see past issues of the quarterly report, interactive dashboards, and learn about DNIB.com’s statistical methodology, please visit DNIB.com.

The post Domain Name Industry Brief Quarterly Report: DNIB.com announces 356.6 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Second Quarter of 2023 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Announcing the Launch of DNIB.com, a New Source for DNS News, Information, Research, and Analysis

By Verisign

Verisign today announced the launch of DNIB.com, the new Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) website.

Sponsored by Verisign, DNIB.com is a source for insights and analysis from subject-matter experts on key topics relevant to the global Domain Name System (DNS). DNIB.com will offer insight on policy, governance, technology, security, and business trends relevant to analysts, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and anyone with an interest in the DNS. The website features a collection of new, searchable, and interactive dashboards tracking relevant DNS data and trends, that is designed to be a valuable day-to-day resource for industry stakeholders, and anyone interested in learning more about global domain name operations.

DNIB.com is also the new home of the DNIB quarterly report, which Verisign has published for more than a decade, providing a trusted and valued resource for stakeholders across the globe seeking to understand the dynamism and trends of the domain name industry.

The report will be published each quarter at DNIB.com, summarizing the state of the domain name industry through a variety of statistical and analytical research. The new and expanded DNIB.com dashboards take that statistical data to the next level, enabling exploration of trend data across the industry, providing additional history and depth, and offering expert insights and commentary.

The post Announcing the Launch of DNIB.com, a New Source for DNS News, Information, Research, and Analysis appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief: 354.0 Million Domain Name Registrations in the First Quarter of 2023

By Verisign
DNIB-Q1-23

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the first quarter of 2023 closed with 354.0 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 3.5 million domain name registrations, or 1.0%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.1,2 Domain name registrations also increased by 3.5 million, or 1.0%, year over year.1,2

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the first quarter of 2023, including:

This issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief includes a correction to the March 2023 issue, which incorrectly reported the number of domain name registrations in the .eu ccTLD.2 This was the result of a one-time error in the .eu domain name registration data, provided by ZookNIC, which has since been resolved.

To see past issues of The Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit https://verisign.com/dnibarchives.

  1. All figure(s) exclude domain names in the .tk, .cf, .ga, .gq, and .ml ccTLDs. Quarterly and year-over-year trends have been calculated relative to historical figures that have also been adjusted to exclude these five ccTLDs. For further information, please see the Editor’s Note contained in Vol. 19, Issue 1 of The Domain Name Industry Brief.
  2. The generic TLD, ngTLD and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD internationalized domain names, (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief: 354.0 Million Domain Name Registrations in the First Quarter of 2023 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief: 350.4 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Fourth Quarter of 2022

By Verisign

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the fourth quarter of 2022 closed with 350.4 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 0.5 million domain name registrations, or 0.1%, compared to the third quarter of 2022.1,2 Domain name registrations have increased by 8.7 million, or 2.6%, year over year.1,2

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the fourth quarter of 2022, including:
Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
Top 10 Largest ccTLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
ngTLDs as Percentage of Total TLDs
Geographical ngTLDs as Percentage of Total Corresponding Geographical TLDs

To see past issues of The Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit https://verisign.com/dnibarchives.

  1. All figure(s) exclude domain names in the .tk, .cf, .ga, .gq, and .ml ccTLDs. Quarterly and year-over-year trends have been calculated relative to historical figures that have also been adjusted to exclude these five ccTLDs. For further information, please see the Editor’s Note contained in Vol. 19, Issue 1 of The Domain Name Industry Brief.
  2. The generic TLD, ngTLD and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD internationalized domain names, (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed, and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief: 350.4 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Fourth Quarter of 2022 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief: 349.9 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Third Quarter of 2022

By Verisign
Verisign Q3 2022 Domain Name Industry Brief Volume 19 Issue 4 Cover

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the third quarter of 2022 closed with 349.9 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, a decrease of 1.6 million domain name registrations, or 0.4%, compared to the second quarter of 2022.1,2 Domain name registrations have increased by 11.5 million, or 3.4%, year over year.1,2

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the third quarter of 2022, including:
Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
Top 10 Largest ccTLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
ngTLDs as Percentage of Total TLDs
Geographical ngTLDs as Percentage of Total Corresponding Geographical TLDs

To see past issues of The Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit verisign.com/dnibarchives.

  1. All figure(s) exclude domain names in the .tk, .cf, .ga, .gq and .ml ccTLDs. Quarterly and year-over-year trends have been calculated relative to historical figures that have also been adjusted to exclude these five ccTLDs. For further information, please see the Editor’s Note contained in Vol. 19, Issue 1 of The Domain Name Industry Brief.
  2. The generic TLD, ngTLD and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD internationalized domain names, (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief: 349.9 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Third Quarter of 2022 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Q2 2022 Domain Name Industry Brief: 351.5 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Second Quarter of 2022

By Verisign

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the second quarter of 2022 closed with 351.5 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, an increase of 1.0 million domain name registrations, or 0.3%, compared to the first quarter of 2022.1,2 Domain name registrations have increased by 10.4 million, or 3.0%, year over year.1,2

the second quarter of 2022 closed with 351.5 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, an increase of 1.0 million domain name registrations, or 0.3%, compared to the first quarter of 2022.

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the second quarter of 2022, including:
Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
Top 10 Largest ccTLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
ngTLDs as Percentage of Total TLDs
Geographical ngTLDs as Percentage of Total Corresponding Geographical TLDs

To see past issues of The Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit verisign.com/dnibarchives.

  1. All figure(s) exclude domain names in the .tk, .cf, .ga, .gq and .ml ccTLDs. Quarterly and year-over-year trends have been calculated relative to historical figures that have also been adjusted to exclude these five ccTLDs. For further information, please see the Editor’s Note contained in Vol. 19, Issue 1 of The Domain Name Industry Brief.
  2. The generic TLD, ngTLD and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD internationalized domain names, (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Q2 2022 Domain Name Industry Brief: 351.5 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Second Quarter of 2022 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Q1 2022 Domain Name Industry Brief: 350.5 Million Domain Name Registrations in the First Quarter of 2022

By Verisign
Verisign Q1 2022 Domain Name Industry Brief Volume 19 Issue 2 Cover

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the first quarter of 2022 closed with 350.5 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, an increase of 8.8 million domain name registrations, or 2.6%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.1,2 Domain name registrations have increased by 13.2 million, or 3.9%, year over year.1,2

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the first quarter of 2022, including:
Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
Top 10 Largest ccTLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
ngTLDs as Percentage of Total TLDs
Geographical ngTLDs as Percentage of Total Corresponding Geographical TLDs

To see past issues of The Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit verisign.com/dnibarchives.

  1. All figure(s) exclude domain names in the .tk, .cf, .ga, .gq and .ml ccTLDs. Quarterly and year-over-year trends have been calculated relative to historical figures that have also been adjusted to exclude these five ccTLDs. For further information, please see the Editor’s Note contained in Vol 19, Issue 1 of The Domain Name Industry Brief.
  2. The generic TLD, ngTLD and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD internationalized domain names, (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Q1 2022 Domain Name Industry Brief: 350.5 Million Domain Name Registrations in the First Quarter of 2022 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Q4 2021 The Domain Name Industry Brief: 341.7 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Fourth Quarter of 2021

By Verisign

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the fourth quarter of 2021 closed with 341.7 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, an increase of 3.3 million domain name registrations, or 1.0%, compared to the third quarter of 2021.1,2 Domain name registrations have increased by 1.6 million, or 0.5%, year over year.1,2

Q4 2021 Domain Name Industry Brief. Graph of domain name registrations across all tlds

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the fourth quarter of 2021, including:
Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
Top 10 Largest ccTLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
ngTLDs as Percentage of Total TLDs
Geographical ngTLDs as Percentage of Total Corresponding Geographical TLDs

To see past issues of The Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit verisign.com/dnibarchives.


  1. All figure(s) exclude domain names in the .tk, .cf, .ga, .gq and .ml ccTLDs. Quarterly and year-over-year trends have been calculated relative to historical figures that have also been adjusted to exclude these five ccTLDs. For further information, please see the Editor’s Note contained in the full Domain Name Industry Brief.
  2. The generic TLD, ngTLD and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD internationalized domain names, (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Q4 2021 The Domain Name Industry Brief: 341.7 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Fourth Quarter of 2021 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Q2 2021 The Domain Name Industry Brief: 367.3 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Second Quarter of 2021

By Verisign
Q2 2021 Domain Name Industry Brief Report Cover

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the second quarter of 2021 closed with 367.3 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 3.8 million domain name registrations, or 1.0%, compared to the first quarter of 2021.1,2 Domain name registrations have decreased by 2.8 million, or 0.7%, year over year.1,2

Q2 2021 closed with 367.3 million domain name registrations across all TLDs.

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the second quarter of 2021, including:

This quarter’s The Domain Name Industry Brief also includes an overview of how Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) improves upon the legacy WHOIS protocol.

To see past issues of The Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit verisign.com/dnibarchives.


1. The figure(s) includes domain names in the .tk ccTLD. .tk is a ccTLD that provides free domain names to individuals and businesses. Revenue is generated by monetizing expired domain names. Domain names no longer in use by the registrant or expired are taken back by the registry and the residual traffic is sold to advertising networks. As such, there are no deleted .tk domain names. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131216006048/en/Freenom-Closes-3M-Series-Funding#.UxeUGNJDv9s.

2. The generic top-level domain (gTLD), new gTLD (ngTLD) and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Q2 2021 The Domain Name Industry Brief: 367.3 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Second Quarter of 2021 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Q1 2021 Domain Name Industry Brief: 363.5 Million Domain Name Registrations in the First Quarter of 2021

By Verisign
Q1 2021 Domain Name Industry Brief Report Cover

Today, we released the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the first quarter of 2021 closed with 363.5 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), a decrease of 2.8 million domain name registrations, or 0.8%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.1,2 Domain name registrations have decreased by 3.3 million, or 0.9%, year over year.1,2

Q1 2021 domain name registrations across all top-level domains

Check out the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the first quarter of 2021, including:

This quarter’s Domain Name Industry Brief also includes a look at a recent collaboration between Verisign, ICANN and industry partners to combat botnets.

To see past issues of the Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit verisign.com/dnibarchives.


1. The figure(s) includes domain names in the .tk ccTLD. .tk is a ccTLD that provides free domain names to individuals and businesses. Revenue is generated by monetizing expired domain names. Domain names no longer in use by the registrant or expired are taken back by the registry and the residual traffic is sold to advertising networks. As such, there are no deleted .tk domain names. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131216006048/en/Freenom-Closes-3M-Series-Funding#.UxeUGNJDv9s.

2. The generic top-level domain (gTLD), new gTLD (ngTLD) and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The internet had 363.5 million domain name registrations at the end of Q1 2021.

The post Verisign Q1 2021 Domain Name Industry Brief: 363.5 Million Domain Name Registrations in the First Quarter of 2021 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Support for AAPI Communities and COVID Relief in India

By Verisign
Verisign Logo

At Verisign we have a commitment to making a positive and lasting impact on the global internet community, and on the communities in which we live and work.

This commitment guided our initial efforts to help these communities respond to and recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, over a year ago. And at the end of 2020, our sense of partnership with our local communities helped shape our efforts to alleviate COVID-related food insecurity in the areas where we have our most substantial footprint. This same sense of community is reflected in our partnership with Virginia Ready, which aims to help individuals in our home State of Virginia access training and certification to pivot to new careers in the technology sector.

We also believe that our team is one of our most important assets. We particularly value the diverse origins of our people; we have colleagues from all over the world who, in turn, are closely connected to their own communities both in the United States and elsewhere. A significant proportion of our staff are of either Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) or South Asian origin, and today we are pleased to announce two charitable contributions, via our Verisign Cares program, directly related to these two communities.

First, Verisign is pleased to associate ourselves with the Stand with Asian Americans initiative, launched by AAPI business leaders in response to recent and upsetting episodes of aggression toward their community. Verisign supports this initiative and the pledge for which it stands, and has made a substantial contribution to the initiative’s partner, the Asian Pacific Fund, to help uplift the AAPI community.

Second, and after consultation with our staff, we have directed significant charitable contributions to organizations helping to fight the worsening wave of COVID-19 in India. Through Direct Relief we will be helping to provide oxygen and other medical equipment to hospitals, while through GiveIndia we will be supporting families in India impacted by COVID-19.

The ‘extended Verisign family’ of our employees, and their families and their communities, means a tremendous amount to us – it is only thanks to our talented and dedicated people that we are able to continue to fulfill our mission of enabling the world to connect online with reliability and confidence, anytime, anywhere.

Verisign expands its community support initiatives, with contributions to COVID-19 relief in India and to the Stand with Asian Americans initiative.

The post Verisign Support for AAPI Communities and COVID Relief in India appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Q4 2020 Domain Name Industry Brief: 366.3 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Fourth Quarter of 2020

By Verisign

Today, we released the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the fourth quarter of 2020 closed with 366.3 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), a decrease of 4.4 million domain name registrations, or 1.2 percent, compared to the third quarter of 2020.1,2 Domain name registrations have grown by 4.0 million, or 1.1 percent, year over year.1,2

366.3 MILLION DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATIONS IN THE FOURTH QUARTER OF 2020

Check out the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the fourth quarter of 2020, including:

This quarter’s Domain Name Industry Brief also includes a closer look at encryption and what new DNS capabilities may be possible with a “minimize at the root and top-level domain, encrypt when needed elsewhere” approach to DNS encryption.

To see past issues of the Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit Verisign.com/DNIBArchives.


1. The figure(s) includes domain names in the .tk ccTLD. .tk is a ccTLD that provides free domain names to individuals and businesses. Revenue is generated by monetizing expired domain names. Domain names no longer in use by the registrant or expired are taken back by the registry and the residual traffic is sold to advertising networks. As such, there are no deleted .tk domain names. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131216006048/en/Freenom-Closes-3M-Series-Funding#.UxeUGNJDv9s.

2. The generic top-level domain (gTLD), new gTLD (ngTLD) and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs), (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Q4 2020 Domain Name Industry Brief: 366.3 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Fourth Quarter of 2020 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Verisign Outreach Program Remediates Billions of Name Collision Queries

By Matt Thomas

A name collision occurs when a user attempts to resolve a domain in one namespace, but it unexpectedly resolves in a different namespace. Name collision issues in the public global Domain Name System (DNS) cause billions of unnecessary and potentially unsafe DNS queries every day. A targeted outreach program that Verisign started in March 2020 has remediated one billion queries per day to the A and J root name servers, via 46 collision strings. After contacting several national internet service providers (ISPs), the outreach effort grew to include large search engines, social media companies, networking equipment manufacturers, national CERTs, security trust groups, commercial DNS providers, and financial institutions.

While this unilateral outreach effort resulted in significant and successful name collision remediation, it is broader DNS community engagement, education, and participation that offers the potential to address many of the remaining name collision problems. Verisign hopes its successes will encourage participation by other organizations in similar positions in the DNS community.

Verisign is proud to be the operator for two of the world’s 13 authoritative root servers. Being a root server operator carries with it many operational responsibilities. Ensuring the security, stability and resiliency of the DNS requires proactive efforts so that attacks against the root name servers do not disrupt DNS resolution, as well as the monitoring of DNS resolution patterns for misconfigurations, signaling telemetry, and unexpected or unintended uses that, without closer collaboration, could have unforeseen consequences (e.g. Chromium’s impact on root DNS traffic).

Monitoring may require various forms of responsible disclosure or notification to the underlying parties. Further, monitoring the root server system poses logistical challenges because any outreach and remediation programs must work at internet scale, and because root operators have no direct relationship with many of the involved entities.

Despite these challenges, Verisign has conducted several successful internet-scale outreach efforts to address various issues we have observed in the DNS.

In response to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) proposal to mitigate name collision risks in 2013, Verisign conducted a focused study on the collision string .CBA. Our measurement study revealed evidence of a substantial internet-connected infrastructure in Japan that relied on the non-resolution of names that end in .CBA. Verisign informed the network operator, who subsequently reconfigured some of its internal systems, resulting in an immediate decline of queries for .CBA observed at A and J root servers.

Prior to the 2018 KSK rollover, several operators of DNSSEC-validating name servers appeared to be sending out-of-date RFC 8145 signals to root name servers. To ensure the KSK rollover did not disrupt internet name resolution functions for billions of end users, Verisign augmented ICANN’s outreach effort and conducted a multi-faceted technical outreach program by contacting and working with The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and other national CERTs, industry partners, various DNS operator groups and performing direct outreach to out-of-date signalers. The ultimate success of the KSK rollover was due in large part to outreach efforts by ICANN and Verisign.

In response to the ICANN Board’s request in resolutions 2017.11.02.29 – 2017.11.02.31, the ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) was asked to conduct studies, and to present data and points of view on collision strings, including specific advice on three higher risk strings: .CORP, .HOME and .MAIL. While Verisign is actively engaged in this Name Collision Analysis Project (NCAP) developed by SSAC, we are also reviving and expanding our 2012 name collision outreach efforts.

Verisign’s name collision outreach program is based on the guidance we provided in several recent peer-reviewed name collision publications, which highlighted various name collision vulnerabilities and examined the root causes of leaked queries and made remediation recommendations. Verisign’s program uses A and J root name server traffic data to identify high-affinity strings related to particular networks, as well as high query volume strings that are contextually associated with device manufacturers, software, or platforms. We then attempt to contact the underlying parties and assist with remediation as appropriate.

While we partially rely on direct communication channel contact information, the key enabler of our outreach efforts has been Verisign’s relationships with the broader collective DNS community. Verisign’s active participation in various industry organizations within the ICANN and DNS communities, such as M3AAWG, FIRST, DNS-OARC, APWG, NANOG, RIPE NCC, APNIC, and IETF1, enables us to identify and communicate with a broad and diverse set of constituents. In many cases, participants operate infrastructure involved in name collisions. In others, they are able to put us in direct contact with the appropriate parties.

Through a combination of DNS traffic analysis and publicly accessible data, as well as the rolodexes of various industry partnerships, across 2020 we were able to achieve effective outreach to the anonymized entities listed in Table 1.

Organization Queries per Day to A & J Status Number of Collision Strings (TLDs) Notes / Root Cause Analysis
Search Engine 650M Fixed 1 string Application not using FQDNs
Telecommunications Provider 250M Fixed N/A Prefetching bug
eCommerce Provider 150M Fixed 25 strings Application not using FQDNs
Networking Manufacturer 70M Pending 3 strings Suffix search list
Cloud Provider 64M Fixed 15 strings Suffix search list
Telecommunications Provider 60M Fixed 2 strings Remediated through device vendor
Networking Manufacturer 45M Pending 2 strings Suffix search list problem in router/modem device
Financial Corporation 35M Fixed 2 strings Typo / misconfiguration
Social Media Company 30M Pending 9 strings Application not using FQDNs
ISP 20M Fixed 1 string Suffix search list problem in router/modem device
Software Provider 20M Pending 50+ strings Acknowledged but still investigating
ISP 5M Pending 1 string At time of writing, still investigating but confirmed it is a router/modem device
Table 1. Sample of outreach efforts performed by Verisign.

Many of the name collision problems encountered are the result of misconfigurations and not using fully qualified domain names. After operators deploy patches to their environments, as shown in Figure 1 below, Verisign often observes an immediate and dramatic traffic decrease at A and J root name servers. Although several networking equipment vendors and ISPs acknowledge their name collision problems, the development and deployment of firmware to a large userbase will take time.

Figure 1. Daily queries for two collision strings to A and J root servers during a nine month period of time.
Figure 1. Daily queries for two collision strings to A and J root servers during a nine month period of time.

Cumulatively, the operators who have deployed patches constitute a reduction of one billion queries per day to A and J root servers (roughly 3% of total traffic). Although root traffic is not evenly distributed among the 13 authoritative servers, we expect a similar impact at the other 11, resulting in a system-wide reduction of approximately 6.5 billion queries per day.

As the ICANN community prepares for Subsequent Procedures (the introduction of additional new TLDs) and the SSAC NCAP continues to work to answer the ICANN Board’s questions, we encourage the community to participate in our efforts to address name collisions through active outreach efforts. We believe our efforts show how outreach can have significant impact to both parties and the broader community. Verisign is committed to addressing name collision problems and will continue executing the outreach program to help minimize the attack surface exposed by name collisions and to be a responsible and hygienic root operator.

For additional information about name collisions and how to properly manage private-use TLDs, please see visit ICANN’s Name Collision Resource & Information website.


1. The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG), Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), DNS Operations, Analysis, and Research Center (DNS-OARC), Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), North American Network Operators’ Group (NANOG), Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC), Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)

Learn how Verisign’s targeted outreach identifies and remediates name collision issues within the DNS.

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Meeting the Evolving Challenges of COVID-19

By Verisign
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The COVID-19 pandemic, when it struck earlier this year, ushered in an immediate period of adjustment for all of us. And just as the challenges posed by COVID-19 in 2020 have been truly unprecedented, Verisign’s mission – enabling the world to connect online with reliability and confidence, anytime, anywhere – has never been more relevant. We are grateful for the continued dedication of our workforce, which enables us to provide the building blocks people need for remote working and learning, and simply for keeping in contact with each other.

At Verisign we took early action to adopt a COVID-19 work posture to protect our people, their families, and our operations. This involved the majority of our employees working from home, and implementing new cleaning and health safety protocols to protect those employees and contractors for whom on-site presence was essential to maintain key functions.

Our steps to address the pandemic did not stop there. On March 25 we announced a series of measures to help the communities where we live and work, and the broader DNS community in which we operate. This included, under our Verisign Cares program, making contributions to organizations supporting key workers, first responders and medical personnel, and doubling the company’s matching program for employee giving so that employee donations to support the COVID-19 response could have a greater impact.

Today, while vaccines may offer signs of long term hope, the pandemic has plunged many families into economic hardship and has had a dramatic effect on food insecurity in the U.S., with an estimated 50 million people affected. With this hardship in mind, we have this week made contributions totaling $275,000 to food banks in the areas where we have our most substantial footprint: the Washington DC-Maryland-Virginia region; Delaware; and the canton of Fribourg, in Switzerland. This will help local families put food on their tables during what will be a difficult winter for many.

The pandemic has also had a disproportionate, and potentially permanent, impact on certain sectors of the economy. So today Verisign is embarking on a partnership with Virginia Ready, which helps people affected by COVID-19 access training and certification for in-demand jobs in sectors such as technology. We are making an initial contribution of $250,000 to Virginia Ready, and will look to establish further partnerships of this kind across the country in 2021.

As people around the world gather online to address the global challenges posed by COVID-19, we want to share some of the steps we have taken so far to support the communities we serve, while keeping our critical internet infrastructure running smoothly.

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