The monthly monitoring of the .RU and .РФ national domain register carried out by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ showed that the number of registrations related to the COVID-19 pandemic and measures to contain it continues to grow.
November saw 208 new coronavirus-related domains in .RU and 45 in .РФ. The total increase was 253 domains, or 68 domains more than in October, when 185 coronavirus-related domains were registered in .RU and .РФ. Registrations of such domains are going up at a steady pace, with October gaining 65 more domains than September. So it can be concluded that both domain zones are seeing linear growth of coronavirus-related registrations.
Over the entire period of monitoring (January - November 2020), 4,676 domains containing the words “сorona,” “covid,” “pandemic,” “ковид,” “пандемия,” “vaccine” and others were added to .RU and 955 to .РФ. The total number of coronavirus-related domains reached 5,631.
The monitoring is aimed at identifying suspicious domains and reducing any possible harm with the help of competent organizations.
For example, over the 11 months of monitoring, Kaspersky Lab, a cybersecurity company that participates in the Netoscope project, flagged 1,895 coronavirus-related domains (1,594 in .RU and 301 in .РФ) with a data loss threat in its products, or 34 percent of the overall coronavirus-related domains. Only two domains have been flagged since the previous check, both in .RU. Flagging means that all devices protected by Kaspersky Lab’s antivirus software received information about these domains and potential threat for visitors.
Instructions and advice on what to do in case of a cyberthreat (phishing, botnet, malware, or unsanctioned access to data) as well as the hotlines of the competent organizations can be found on the website of the Coordination Center’s project Domain Patrol.
