Understanding how and why bad actors register domain names for malicious purposes is an ongoing challenge in the effort to reduce Domain Name System (DNS) Abuse. The INFERMAL project, short for Inferential Analysis of Maliciously Registered Domains, is a research initiative sponsored by ICANN's Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and conducted by KOR Labs that takes a closer look at attacker behavior, and what registrar and registry features are most often associated with abuse.
This two-year study builds on earlier work from the Statistical Analysis of DNS Abuse in Generic Top-Level Domains project. Rather than focusing on outcomes alone, INFERMAL zeroes in on the registration process itself: What services do attackers prefer when registering domains for phishing? What features seem to deter them?
In our recent post, "Insights and Clarification on the INFERMAL Study," we provided a deeper analysis of the study's findings and addressed potential misunderstandings or misinterpretations that may have arisen. We encourage the ICANN community to review the document to gain a clearer understanding of the results as well as their implications.
To learn more, read the full document titled "Insights and Clarification on the INFERMAL Study." For any further questions, please contact the OCTO-SSR team at [email protected].
