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Afilias, a global provider of Internet infrastructure services, today announced that a new Global Phishing Survey [PDF] released by the Anti-Phishing Work Group (APWG) reveals that the .INFO domain is the generic top-level Internet domain (gTLD) safest from phishing attacks. The results of the Survey show that, during the second half of 2008, .INFO had the lowest phishing rates and the lowest average attack duration among the gTLDs measured. .INFO's phishing durations were half the world average.

"The .INFO registry is at the forefront of protecting Internet users from online identity theft across the world," said Greg Aaron, Director of Key Account Management and Domain Security at Afilias, and a co-author of the study. "In January 2008, Afilias implemented a vigorous anti-phishing program working closely with .INFO registrars. We are pleased that the hard work of the .INFO anti-phishing team and dedicated registrars have propelled .INFO to the top spot for safety from phishing."

The Global Phishing Survey analyzes the APWG phishing attack repository and other data sources comprising a comprehensive archive of phishing activity. It reports 56,959 phishing attacks worldwide in the second half of 2008, hosted on 30,454 unique domain names. Phishing took place on domain names in 170 top-level domains (TLDs). According to the report, a phishing rate is a standard measure of the number of detected phishing Web sites for every 10,000 domains registered, and indicates the prevalence of phishing in a top-level domain. Attack duration measures the amount of time a phishing Web site remains online — the longer one stays online, the more unsuspecting users may fall victim to the criminals.

Phishing is a common way that criminals perpetrate Internet identity theft and fraud. A phisher builds a fake Web site that masquerades as a trustworthy entity such as a bank, to fool Internet users into revealing sensitive information such as their usernames, passwords, and financial information.

"Identity theft and fraud are important issues for anyone who goes online, and criminals are using vulnerable top-level domains and registrars to steal identities and money," said Ram Mohan, Executive Vice President and CTO of Afilias. "The new data demonstrates the effectiveness of active, self-regulated domain name anti-abuse programs in improving the safety of Internet users against those who steal from them."

About .INFO

.INFO was the first generic, unrestricted Top-Level Domain (TLD) to be launched since .com and is the most successful new TLD launched in over 25 years. Registrations in .INFO first became available in 2001. Since then, .INFO has grown to become the fourth largest generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) in the world with over 6 million domain names registered. .INFO Domains are currently available in ten Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) scripts. (Learn More)

Related topics: Cybercrime, Registry Services, Security, Spam, Top-Level Domains