Top Ten Spam Sites Named and Shamed: Updated

The vast majority of spam (83 per cent) is linked to sites established through ten domain name registrars, according to a new study.

Anti-Spam firm Knujon (Think backwards) found out that although there are 900 different registrars for site names, the main spam culprits go through just ten.

Unwittingly or not, here are those sites to avoid:

1. XinNet Cyber Information Company Limited
2. eNom
3. Network Solutions
4. Register.com
5. Planet Online
6. Regtime Ltd.
7. OnlineNIC Inc.
8. Spot Domain LLC
9. Wild West Domains
10. Hichina Web Solutions

Knujon’s aim for this study is to try and crack down on the massive amount of spam that is sent out daily by separate domains registered to these registrars.

While the registrars themselves are unlikely to be “criminal or evil”, they may be just lacking in “effective controls and good policy”. And site resellers will be causing a lot of these problems as unscrupulous buyers will buy up known names.

XinNet & eNom have been on the list since the first list in 2008 while Beijing Innovative Networks and Joker dropped off the list after they responded to breach notices by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers(ICANN).

Also missing from this new list is Dynamic Dolphin, who were relieved of their title after successful lawsuits against notorious spammer Scott Richter.

XinNet and eNom seem to have ignored the 2008 report and failed to place any anti-spam limitations, although XinNet has stated it tries its best to “suspend all the sites which [are] abused by spammers”, while eNom (as well as Spot Domain) have questioned how accurate the data was.

Whether this new report will make any difference remains to be seen, but with an alleged total of 4 million spams a day coming from XinNet/Enom, perhaps it’s time for someone to step in.

UPDATE: I was contacted by Knujon, and they’ve released their reasons for placing eNom on the list.
First of all, they “apparently sponsor illicit domains including unregulated Internet pharmacies” – all that spam for |/iagra.
They also have at least 116 ICANN Acredditations, which basically means that they can monopolise on bidding for new domains.

All of their illicit pharmacies are still online despite eNom having received calls over their abuse.

Source: The Register