The ICANN has published The Last Four Years in Retrospect: A Brief Review of DNS Abuse Trends. The document shows that the number of cases of such abuses decreased between October 2017 and January 2022. ICANN's bylaws and mission do not allow the corporation to regulate the content of sites, but it makes significant efforts to combat abuse. In particular, during this period, ICANN's Office of the Chief Executive Officer launched projects such as the Domain Name Security Threat Information Collection and Reporting (DNSTICR) system and the Domain Abuse Activity Reporting (DAAR) project to track domains that are experiencing potential security threats, and reporting them. DAAR prepares monthly reports on concentrations of domain names that pose a security risk using visual aids and summary statistics.
ICANN categorizes domain name abuse into five categories: botnets, malware, pharming (the use of domains to covertly redirect users to false IP addresses), phishing, and spam. According to the published report, less than 1% of all existing domain names were reported in January of this year about the possible security threats listed.
“Our responsibilities as an internet technical neutral operator include proactively providing facts and data that lawmakers can use to make informed decisions. Our mission is to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, and in particular, to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifiers,” said ICANN President Göran Marby, commenting on the published report.
