Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale

S.R.G. Pletinckx; G.J. Habben Jansen; A. Brussen; R.S. van Wegberg

doi:10.1109/ICICS52457.2021.9464572

Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale

S.R.G. Pletinckx, G.J. Habben Jansen, A. Brussen, R.S. van Wegberg

Organisation & Governance

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volume › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

102 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced novel incentives for adversaries to exploit the state of turmoil. As we have witnessed with the increase in for instance phishing attacks and domain name registrations piggybacking the COVID-19 brand name. In this paper, we perform an analysis at Internet-scale of COVID-19 domain name registrations during the early stages of the virus’ spread, and investigate the rationales behind them. We leverage the DomainTools COVID-19 Threat List and additional measurements to analyze over 150,000 domains registered between January 1st 2020 and May 1st 2020. We identify two key rationales for covid-related domain registrations. Online marketing, by either redirecting traffic or hosting a commercial service on the domain, and domain parking, by registering domains containing popular COVID-19 keywords, presumably anticipating a profit when reselling the domain later on. We also highlight three public policy take-aways that can counteract this domain registration behavior.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021
Editors	Mohammad Alsmirat, Abdallah Almaaitah, Yaser Jararweh, Jaime Lloret Mauri
Pages	41-48
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9781665433518
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ICICS52457.2021.9464572
Publication status	Published - 2021

Publication series

Name	2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021

Keywords

COVID-19
Domain registrations
Rationales

Access to Document

10.1109/ICICS52457.2021.9464572

09464572

Cite this

Pletinckx, S. R. G., Habben Jansen, G. J., Brussen, A., & van Wegberg, R. S. (2021). Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale. In M. Alsmirat, A. Almaaitah, Y. Jararweh, & J. L. Mauri (Eds.), 2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021 (pp. 41-48). Article 9464572 (2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICICS52457.2021.9464572

Pletinckx, S.R.G. ; Habben Jansen, G.J. ; Brussen, A. et al. / Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale. 2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021. editor / Mohammad Alsmirat ; Abdallah Almaaitah ; Yaser Jararweh ; Jaime Lloret Mauri. 2021. pp. 41-48 (2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021).

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title = "Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale",

abstract = "The COVID-19 pandemic introduced novel incentives for adversaries to exploit the state of turmoil. As we have witnessed with the increase in for instance phishing attacks and domain name registrations piggybacking the COVID-19 brand name. In this paper, we perform an analysis at Internet-scale of COVID-19 domain name registrations during the early stages of the virus{\textquoteright} spread, and investigate the rationales behind them. We leverage the DomainTools COVID-19 Threat List and additional measurements to analyze over 150,000 domains registered between January 1st 2020 and May 1st 2020. We identify two key rationales for covid-related domain registrations. Online marketing, by either redirecting traffic or hosting a commercial service on the domain, and domain parking, by registering domains containing popular COVID-19 keywords, presumably anticipating a profit when reselling the domain later on. We also highlight three public policy take-aways that can counteract this domain registration behavior.",

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author = "S.R.G. Pletinckx and {Habben Jansen}, G.J. and A. Brussen and {van Wegberg}, R.S.",

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doi = "10.1109/ICICS52457.2021.9464572",

language = "English",

series = "2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021",

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Pletinckx, SRG, Habben Jansen, GJ, Brussen, A & van Wegberg, RS 2021, Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale. in M Alsmirat, A Almaaitah, Y Jararweh & JL Mauri (eds), 2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021., 9464572, 2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021, pp. 41-48. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICICS52457.2021.9464572

Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale. / Pletinckx, S.R.G.; Habben Jansen, G.J.; Brussen, A. et al.
2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021. ed. / Mohammad Alsmirat; Abdallah Almaaitah; Yaser Jararweh; Jaime Lloret Mauri. 2021. p. 41-48 9464572 (2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volume › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

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Pletinckx SRG, Habben Jansen GJ, Brussen A, van Wegberg RS. Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale. In Alsmirat M, Almaaitah A, Jararweh Y, Mauri JL, editors, 2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021. 2021. p. 41-48. 9464572. (2021 12th International Conference on Information and Communication Systems, ICICS 2021). doi: 10.1109/ICICS52457.2021.9464572

Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale

Abstract

Publication series

Keywords

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Cybersecurity (TPM)

Cite this

Cash for the Register? Capturing Rationales of Early COVID-19 Domain Registrations at Internet-scale

Abstract

Publication series

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Cybersecurity (TPM)

Cite this