DK zone - Analysis of Domains Suspected of Infringing on Intellectual Property Rights

Two complete examination of .DK zone, about 3 months apart.

Published on April 5, 2018. By Henrik Bjørner at cybercrime.eu

The first complete examination

On 13 December 2017, a full analysis of .DK zone was completed by EIT DK ApS / Cybercrime.eu in collaboration with DK Hostmaster A/S (The Danish top-level registrar).

The analysis found 3,075 domains suspected of infringing on intellectual property. In the meantime, DK Hostmaster A/S has implemented a new process for validating the identities of Danish and foreign customers. To this end, all existing foreign customers of DK Hostmaster has been evaluated and 2,814 customers have been asked to document their identity.

This has subsequently led to the deletion of 2,781 domain names. Furthermore, DK Hostmaster A/S has embedded a risk-based assessment of the information supplied when a domain name is registered. Read more about the risk-based assessment at: dk-hostmaster.dk.

The second complete examination

On 22 Marts 2018, a full analysis of .DK zone was completed by EIT DK ApS / Cybercrime.eu in collaboration with DK Hostmaster A/S. This analysis found 453 domains suspected of infringing on intellectual property rights.

Highlights:

All Domains compared to suspected websites:

  • 13 December 2017: 0.28%
  • 22 Marts 2018: 0.04%

E-commerce sector compared to suspected websites:

  • 13 December 2017: 6.73%
  • 22 Marts 2018: 1.03%

WhoIs Contact Owner Country - Top #1

  • 13 December 2017: China - 1,514 domains - 49.24%
  • 22 Marts 2018: United States - 246 domains - 54.30%

The future

It will be interesting to see whether the new validating system can keep criminals away from the .DK zone in the future, or whether they will find new methods to bypass the security check.

Both analyses are publicly accessible at: https://cybercrime.eu/published-analyzes/