We monitored the DNS for activities related to some of the top events and pressing issues in June and July 2022. Check out the overview below, and feel free to download the dedicated threat reports where available.

1. Pride Month

We monitored DNS activities related to the month-long LGBT Pride celebration, particularly for domains containing the strings “lgbt” and “pride + month.” From May to July, relevant domain registrations peaked in June, as seen in the chart below.

The other text strings used in pride month-related domains included “qia,” “plus,” “triangle,” and “awards.” If you look closely at the word cloud below, you can also see words, such as “support,” “world,” “community,” and “chamber.”

2. Economic Recession and Inflation

The global inflation rate has been concerning, with the U.S. experiencing its highest level since 1981. Some people believe an economic recession is impending, others disagree. Whether that is set to happen or not, the concern also reverberated in the DNS, with an increasing trend from January to June, but more so in June.

The number of domains containing the words “inflation” and “recession” exceeded 200 beginning in May. It peaked at 359 in June and hasn’t gone below 250 since.

Common words used in the domains included “proof,” “check,” “anti,” “worldwide,” and “protect.”

3. Abortion Laws

The U.S. Supreme Court's overruling of the Roe v. Wade case created a stir both online and offline. We also felt the impact of the related discussions in the DNS, with registrations for domains containing “roe” and “wade” peaking immediately after the Supreme Court's decision on 24 June 2022. 

The same trend was seen for domain registrations in the U.S. that contained the string “abortion.” Note that weeks before the ruling, no registrations for domains containing “roe” and “wade” weren’t present at all. These trends are shown in the chart below.

The text strings used to monitor the trend appeared alongside other reproductive health-related words, such as “pill,” “legalpill,” and “careclinic.” You can also see “outofstate,” “planned,” “legal,” and “insure” in the word cloud below, along with other strings.

4. Stock Market, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones

Despite concerns about the inflation rate and economic recession, Nasdaq’s quarterly profits exceeded expectations. We tracked Nasdaq-related domain registration trends and those relevant to the stock market and Dow Jones.

We saw a consistent stream of combined domain registrations since January, hitting the highest count in July, as shown in the chart below.

The other text strings used in the domains were “trade,” “startup,” “vip,” and “academy.” A bunch of stock market-related domains also contained the string “test4free,” which could be targeting new stock market traders. Some examples are:

• stockmarket-test4free[.]trade
• stockmarket-test4free[.]life
• stockmarket-test4free[.]online
• stockmarket-test4free[.]bond
• stockmarket-test4free[.]win
• stockmarket-test4free[.]cam

The word cloud below shows the most common text strings used in this domain registration driver.

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Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information about the domain registration events and analyses mentioned above or any inquiries about enterprise commercial solutions.