In 2021, the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ continues to monitor the list of .RU and .РФ ccTLDs for coronavirus-related registrations. The monitoring efforts aim to identify potentially dangerous domains and decrease potential harm from them.
Over the first month of the year, 157 coronavirus-related domains were registered, including 128 in .RU and 29 in .РФ, with 56 domains (42 in .RU and 14 in .РФ) containing the word “vaccine” spelled in Russian or Latin and another 7 domains (5 in .RU and 2 in .РФ) containing the word “test,” which may be connected to testing for the virus or antibodies.
Over the entire period of monitoring (since January 2020), 6,048 domains containing the words “сorona,” “covid,” “pandemic,” “ковид,” “пандемия,” “vaccine” and others have been added, including 5,035 to .RU and 1,013 to .РФ.
The results of the latest domain zone monitoring will be sent to Kaspersky Lab, an organization competent at identifying internet violations. To date, 1,901 coronavirus-related domains have been flagged with a data-loss threat in Kaspersky Lab’s antivirus products: 1,600 in .RU and 301 in .РФ, or almost 31 percent of the total number of coronavirus-related domains.
Instructions and advice on what to do in case of a cyberthreat (phishing, malware, or unauthorized data access) as well as updates on internet security and the hotlines of competent organizations are available on the website of the Coordination Center’s project Domain Patrol.
