.RU Domain Name Registrations Approaching 5 Million

The Coordination Center for TLD RU/РФ, responsible of the administration of .RU and .РФ extensions, is now approaching 5 million domain name registrations.

.RU currently holds the 6th position in list of biggest ccTLD’s after .DE , .TK , .UK , .CN and .NL, with 15.3 million domain names for .DE, 15.1 million domain names for .TK , 10.3 million domains for .UK, 6.4 million domain names for .CN and 5.2 million domain names for .NL. .RU is also a leader in terms of growth rates among the biggest ccTLDs.

The fourth million .RU domain name was registered on 17 September 2012, while the third million .RU domain name was registered registered on the night of 24/25 September 2010.

Three years ago, .RU got a little brother, IDN TLD .РФ. Since then, the Internet market in Russia started growing twice as fast: by approximately 1,000-1,500 new domain names daily in each domain zone.

Up to date there are 4,920,846 .RU domain names registered.

Check out EuroDNS here to register your .RU domain name.

January 2014 Highest Reported ccTLD Sales

Game.cn was the highest reported country code top-level domain (ccTLD) in January 2014. The domain name changed hands for $512,307 via .CN Registry Auction.

Here are the highest reported ccTLD sales in January 2014:

1. Game.cn     $512,307
2. Wan.cn     $247,830
3. IA.ca     $58,590
4. Rabatkoder.dk     $36,500
5. Kingdom.co.uk     $31,534
6. Witze.de     $30,375
7. FYI.tv     $30,000
8. Lotterie.at     $20,550
9. VisionDirect.nl     $16,335
1-. GoldBank.de     $13,500
11.tie     GamerPC.de     $12,150
11.tie     PFM.de     $12,150
13. BMEL.de     $11,406
14. OD.cn     $11,070
15. WebHosting.co     $10,800
16. FO.co.uk     $9,701
17. Air.tv     $9,500
18. XC.co.uk     $8,001
19. 828.cn     $7,980
20. Yaap.es     $7,535

.ES Grows 5% In 2013

The Spanish ccTLD .es grew by 5.1 percent in 2013 to 1,696,538 domains under management from 1,614,149 12 months ago the registry announced recently.

According to the registry, almost half (48.83%) of the domains registered within Spain are .es domains while .com has around one third (36.31%). Other TLDs with sizeable market share are . net (4.81%), .org (3.22%), . eu (3.02%), .cat (2.05%), .info (1.36%) and .biz (0.40%).

In Spain there are 3.474.272 registered Internet domains, representing an increase of only 0.45% with respect to the year 2012. The balance is positive thanks to the “. is”, since all other terminations, except the “.cat”, reduce your total number of records. Thus, the “.com” fall a 3.84%; the “. net” by 7.03%, the “.org” 6.01%, the “. eu” 0.25%, an 7.85% “.info” and “.biz” a 12.94%.

As could be expected, the vast majority of .es domains are registered within Spain. There were 1,458,268 (85.96%) registered to Spanish individuals and businesses while there were 238,270 (14.04%) whose registrant was abroad.

Within Spain, the autonomous regions with the most registrations were Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid and Valencia.

The communities and autonomous regions with the most registrations at the end of 2013 were Madrid (376,131 domains or 25.79% of the total in Spain); Catalonia (222,153 – 15.23%), Andalusia (198.855 – 13.64%), Valencia (171,807 – 11.78%), Galicia, (75,176 – 5.16%), Castilla y León (59.519 – 4.08%), Basque country (49.550 -3.40%), Canary (46.256 – 3.17%), Murcia (40,931 – 2.81%), Castilla La Mancha (40.828 – 2.80%), Aragon (38.906 – 2.67%), The Rioja (32.746 – 2.25%), Baleares (28.858 – 1.98%), Asturias (26.812 – 1.84%), Extremadura (18.927 – 1.30%), Navarra (15.188 – 1.04%), Cantabria (14.097 – 0.97%), Ceuta (808 – 0.06%) and Melilla (720 – 0.05%).

Nominet To Pilot First Cyber Security Support Service Aimed At Small UK Firms

[news release] Nominet Cyber Assist, a pilot cyber security support and advice service aimed at small businesses, was announced today by Nominet, the internet company best known for running the .uk internet infrastructure. The three-month pilot, which will run in the summer and be the first of its kind in the UK, will research whether an independent and authoritative advice service could effectively help businesses detect and combat cyber crime.

While cyber security issues have long been a concern for larger businesses, the increasing reliance on the internet means that small businesses are now vulnerable to the same threats. A survey conducted by Nominet found that over three quarters (77%) of small businesses with 50 or fewer employees have faced at least one cyber security incident in the last month alone, and that on average, incidents took several hours to resolve with 40% taking a day or longer. One in five small businesses said that they had lost money as a result.

• UK’s first small business cyber security service, Nominet Cyber Assist, to be piloted in the summer

• Over three-quarters of small businesses have faced at least one cyber security incident every month

• Almost half of cyber security issues within small firms tackled alone or with help from friends

• Pilot service aims to address the gap for small business friendly advice

Nominet Cyber Assist, a pilot cyber security support and advice service aimed at small businesses, was announced today by Nominet, the internet company best known for running the .uk internet infrastructure. The three-month pilot, which will run in the summer and be the first of its kind in the UK, will research whether an independent and authoritative advice service could effectively help businesses detect and combat cyber crime.

When cyber security issues arise, small businesses often don’t know who to turn to for help. In 45% of cases, problems are solved either by the business owner in isolation, or with the help of a personal friend or non-technical member of staff. This figure rises to 61% within micro-businesses (those with five employees or less).

Given the sophisticated, technical nature of most cyber security threats, small businesses who take on issues alone are risking further downtime and lost revenue. Even standard IT support – whether internal or external – may not have the expertise to identify and resolve the latest emerging threats, while vendor-based support from anti-virus or other security providers is often restricted to certain products or areas.

Nominet — the non-profit organisation which has managed the .uk internet infrastructure since 1996 — has set up a dedicated team that can deliver the first single, independent, trusted source of cyber security specific information and support for small firms.

The pilot aims to reflect the diverse profile of UK small businesses by inviting 1,000 businesses across different sectors to take part. It will offer them free access to easy- to-understand advice on protecting your business, as well as help with identifying problems and support to troubleshoot and fix problems. The pilot’s extensive website with information, guides and FAQs will be a first point of call for any cyber security problems, with telephone and email support available too.

This announcement is part of an ongoing programme of security initiatives being developed by Nominet working closely with a number of partners including the Cabinet Office and the National Cyber Security Programme.

“The bedrock of a secure business is taking sensible precautions,” commented Nominet’s Chief Technology Officer Simon McCalla. “But small businesses’ main focus is being great at what they do, so we understand that they can be very stretched when it comes to dedicating time to cyber security.

“Nominet already plays a critical role in providing a trusted online home for millions of British businesses and we’re delighted to be offering help and assistance to small businesses who often struggle with the challenges of staying up to date and protected against the latest cyber threats. While larger businesses are well-resourced, this pilot will be exploring whether a dedicated service and tailored advice will help smaller companies that might otherwise be in danger of getting left behind.”

To register your interest in taking part, please visit our pilot page or contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Small business cyber security in numbers*

Small businesses are now experiencing cyber security incident levels only seen previously in larger organisations
87% of small businesses had a security breach in the last year, up from 76% a year ago
63% of small businesses were attacked by an unauthorised outsider in the last year, up from 41% a year ago
The average cost to a small business of its worst security breach was £35-65K a year

Notes to Editors

Research conducted for Nominet 15-24 October 2013 by Insight Engineers, interviewing IT decision makers in 400 companies with less than 50 employees.
Source: * BIS 2013 Information Security Breaches Survey

This Nominet announcement was sourced from:
www.nominet.org.uk/news/press-releases/first-cyber-security-support-service-aimed-small-firms-be-piloted-nominet

Nominet’s Knowthenet Launches ‘The Social Age’ Campaign

Nominet’s internet advice site, knowthenet.org.uk has launched a campaign aimed at supporting parents so they can keep up with their kids and help them stay safe online.

Knowthenet’s ‘The Social Age’ survey of parents and 8-16 year olds found that that whilst children begin exploring the web and trialling social media sites aged nine, less than a third of parents (32%) feel ‘very confident’ about helping their kids to stay safe online.

To help parents keep up, Knowthenet has launched a quiz to test their Social Age skills, along with handy guides on how to protect children online and talk to them about the issues. There’s also an infographic showing a number of other interesting statistics from the research.