September 30, 2013
For a registrar reviewing domain registration submissions, it can be quite a task picking out those on which fraud may be carried out.
NetCraft to the rescue - we've written about this service before, but it's worth mentioning again.
NetCraft's tool is based on the company's extensive knowledge and data-gathering in this arena. It claims that as of September 2013, it had blocked 6.7 million phishing attacks and its phishing feed is in use by many online services providers.
Some of the technology used is in relation to recognising homoglyph domains - transformations such as where characters of the alphabet are substituted by numbers; for example "o" (letter O) being replaced with "0" (zero).
Domain Registration Risk calculates a score for a proposed domain based on the results of two algorithms.
The first algorithm compares the candidate domain to a list of thousands of frequently-phished legitimate domains NetCraft has in its database - such as major banks and other financial institutions.
The second algorithm uses a "string entropy test" to determine if a domain looks like a plausible name or more like a randomised string.
The resulting score is from one to ten, with one being the least likely to be a phishing-oriented domain and ten being most likely. The service is run over a web based interface, but for automated processes and bulk queries an API is available.
Learn more about Domain Registration Risk here.
NetCraft also offers Phishing Alerts for registrars, web hosts and ISPs. This is a service whereby if a validated phishing report shows activity on a subscriber's infrastructure, the company subscribing will receive an alert; allowing for perhaps quicker action in shutting down the offending site or terminating the registration.
NetCraft should be contacted for pricing and further details about any of its services.
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How to register a name: Enter your choice in the search tool and click 'GO'. If after the check the domain names search results show your choice is available, you will then have the option to proceed to purchase registration; which is a very quick and easy process - start a search and find your ideal website address now.
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