Resources
The Institute strives to serve as a resource for all interested stakeholders fighting DNS Abuse, whether they are registries, registrars, security researchers, or any other interested party.
The Institute is pleased to provide and maintain a Resource Library on publications related to DNS Abuse. These documents advance the conversation regarding DNS Abuse and help educate registries and registrars as to how to address it. These resources also may prove useful to someone that wants to learn more about DNS Abuse and how to tackle it.
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Recent spike in malicious phishing concentrated in two registrars
Summary Record Highs in NetBeacon MAP Data In March 2025 we observed two record highs in NetBeacon Measurement and Analytics Platform (MAP) data: the highest
Resources to help you learn more about DNS Abuse
The Framework to Address Abuse The Framework to Address Abuse is a document developed by registry operators (both “generic” and “country-code”) and registrars that defines
DNS Abuse Institute Launches NetBeacon Reporter: First Ever Centralized DNS Abuse Reporting Service
The new, free service, supported by Public Interest Registry and CleanDNS, provides a simplified, standardized, and streamlined abuse reporting system.
NetBeacon: Providing Registrars with Actionable, High-Quality Abuse Reports
The DNS Abuse Institute is launching a free service, powered by CleanDNS, called NetBeacon to reduce the friction for reporting and mitigating DNS Abuse.
DNS Abuse: If We Can’t Measure It, Does It Exist?
Our purpose for measuring DNS Abuse is to increase our understanding of the problem and bring greater sophistication to community discussions about DNS Abuse.
DNSAI Releases First-Ever Annual Report
The DNS Abuse Institute has published its 2021 Annual Report, which recounts an impressive milestone inaugural year and covers 2/2021 to 3/2022.
DNS Abuse Institute Welcomes Rowena Schoo
The DNS Abuse Institute is excited to welcome Rowena Schoo as the Director of Programs and Policy. Schoo will serve as a critical part of the team whose mission is to combat DNS Abuse.
Generic Abuse Policy for Registrars and Registries
This DNSAI post is the first in a three-part series that will attempt to provide reasonable, bite size introductions to the key components of developing anti-abuse practices.
DNSAI Newsletter April 2022
Join our Executive Director of the DNS Abuse Institute, Graeme Bunton, as he shares updates on NetBeacon, ICANN 73, and a recent DNS Abuse study by the European Commission.
White Paper: Proposal for PDPs on DNS Abuse
The NetBeacon Institute is pleased to publish our White Paper: Proposal for PDPs on DNS Abuse. We created this paper to support and advance ICANN
How have the gTLD contractual amendments impacted DNS Abuse?
Overview In this context, DNS Abuse is defined as malware, botnets, phishing, pharming, and spam (when spam serves as a delivery mechanism for the
Recent spike in malicious phishing concentrated in two registrars
Summary Record Highs in NetBeacon MAP Data In March 2025 we observed two record highs in NetBeacon Measurement and Analytics Platform (MAP) data: the highest number of unique domain names associated with phishing (47,613), and the largest month-on-month increase in unique domain names associated with phishing (63%). See Figure 1: Aggregate Trends
White Paper: Proposal for PDPs on DNS Abuse
The NetBeacon Institute is pleased to publish our White Paper: Proposal for PDPs on DNS Abuse. We created this paper to support and advance ICANN Community discussions on potential policy development related to DNS Abuse. From our unique perspective, we believe there are a number of issues that are constrained enough to
How have the gTLD contractual amendments impacted DNS Abuse?
Overview In this context, DNS Abuse is defined as malware, botnets, phishing, pharming, and spam (when spam serves as a delivery mechanism for the other forms of DNS Abuse). This was a tremendous achievement. ICANN, the participating registries and registrars, and the ICANN community all deserve recognition for this work. These
NetBeacon Reporter introduces new features as it reaches 50,000 DNS Abuse Reports
NetBeacon Reporter introduces new features as it reaches 50,000 DNS Abuse Reports Since launching NetBeacon Reporter in 2022, we’ve engaged with registrars and DNS Abuse reporters to onboard users, increase reports, and collect ideas for improvements. Today we’re pleased to share that we’ve sent over 50,000 reports of DNS Abuse. This achievement
Update on GAC Communiqués and Community Activity on DNS Abuse
This blog and the associated report aim to provide an overview of DNS Abuse-related issues raised by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), a key part of ICANN’s multistakeholder model. We summarize relevant community activity that addresses these areas and highlight remaining gaps where further work is needed. This report is an updated
Reflections on a Year of Publishing Registrar and TLD Abuse Rates
In June 2023, after ten months of publishing general DNS Abuse trends at the aggregate level, we published our first report listing high and low abuse rates per Domains Under Management (DUM) and new registrations for registrars and TLDs, which we refer to as Specific Reporting. Our DNS Abuse reporting methodology focuses
How Did the Closure of Freenom Impact DNS Abuse Across the TLD Ecosystem?
Introduction Freenom, the domain name registrar and registry operator, received a great deal of attention in March 2023 when published reported noted that it had stopped allowing new registrations for the five country-code top level domains (ccTLDs) that it operated (.CF for the Central African Republic, .GA for Gabon, .GQ for Equatorial
Phishing Attack Trends
Since collecting and publishing data on the number of unique domains used for phishing attacks and malware distribution as part of our NetBeacon MAP reporting, we’ve been on the lookout for any discernible patterns or trends. In our NetBeacon MAP data, we noticed an increase in the February numbers compared to January, with unique
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