JuliannaSpam-fighting organization KnujOn, or “no junk” spelled backwards, has released a report on
the top 10 registrars it has linked to spam and other illicit activity.
Founded in 2005, the KnujOn project targets spam at its root by collecting spam samples from the public, not to build better filters or blacklists, but to terminate illicite websites, to test the Internet’s policy infrastructure, and gather spam statistics. The goal is to target illicit transaction sites and remove the financial incentive out of the spam cycle. The organization is credited with shutting down close to 300,000 junk mail sites to date.
Domain name registrars occupy an key position in the fight against spam. Because spammers often register multiple domain names to evade antispam detection software, they can be lucrative customers for many registrars. Registrars are in a unique position – they can aggressively fight spam at the root by quickly removing fraudulent domains from their databases and ousting spammers from the Internet, or they can be leisurely in responding.
While many registrars are quick to weed out malicious activity on their domains, the purpose of the report is to draw attention to registrars that could and should be doing more to fight spam. According to Garth Bruen, the creator of KnujOn, “Because [the domain industry] has been a free-rein, profit-driven enterprise, the registrars have made up their own rules.”
In regards to the most serious offenders, Bruen thinks it’s time that ICANN – the organization in charge of accrediting domain name registrars – get tough and threaten to pull the accreditation of long offending registrars. Two companies that were formerly on KnujOn’s list, Beijing Innovative Networks and Joker, were issued warnings by ICANN and have since cleaned up their act, Bruen said in his report.
The list takes into account a variety of factors including the amount of spam associated with a registrar’s domains and the percentage of the registrar’s domains linked to spam.
KnujOn’s top 10 spam-related registrars are:
1. Xinet
2. eNom
3. Network Solutions
Click to view the full list.
For more information, read the original article on Network World: Top 10 Spam-Friendly Registrars Named and Shamed