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With
hundreds of new generic top-level
domains (gTLD) arriving on the
Internet – like .shop, .bank and .london
– research has revealed that 87
percent of consumers do not feel
very comfortable visiting them.
The
survey, entitled the “New Internet
Study,” by global information
assurance firm NCC Group questioned
10,000 consumers across the US and
UK regarding their attitudes to
these new gTLDs.
With
more domains going live, 42 percent
of web users also reported feeling
less secure online since their
introduction. Data from NCC
Group’s Domain Abuse Monitoring
service backs up this consumer
concern, with 50 of the new gTLDs
being used to launch phishing emails
in the last ten months alone.
Rob
Cotton, CEO at NCC Group, said:
“The Internet is undergoing the
biggest change in its history,
causing uncertainty for consumers.
We’ve also shown that the new
domains are already being used for
nefarious purposes, with users
expressing security concerns too.
“Currently
there is a lack of awareness of this
change in the business community.
This is an issue that affects a
number of different departments,
from marketing and IT all the way up
to the board – but most firms are
oblivious.
“Businesses
cannot afford to do nothing here.
The new gTLDs offer a wealth of
possibilities for cyber criminals to
attack an organization’s online
presence. Brand reputation, customer
trust and ultimately revenue are all
at risk.
“Companies
are at a crossroads. A defensive
strategy of buying up brand related
domains might have been a simple
task when there was only 22 gTLDs,
but is it feasible when there are
over a thousand? Purchasing your own
brand gTLD would allow you to carve
out your own space on the Internet,
but would you have the back-end
systems to support it and the
initial capital to invest?
“Organizations
need to make a decision and quickly.
Doing nothing is not a solution.”
Other
findings include:
·
45 percent of those surveyed said they would feel more likely to visit
sites with new gTLDs if companies
were clear about the steps being
taken to protect users’ personal
information
·
UK
respondents are more comfortable
visiting sites with new domains than
their US counterparts (14% vs 12%,
respectively)
·
US consumers are more likely to feel less secure as a result of the
changes to gTLDs than their UK peers
(46% US vs 39% UK, respectively)
·
Baby boomers (those born in 1964 or earlier) are more
likely to feel much less secure with
these additional domain extensions
than millennials (those born between 1980 and 1996)
and generation Xers (those born
between 1965 and 1979)
Survey
methodology
The
survey was conducted in
collaboration with IDG Research
Services. Data collection took place
online among US and UK consumers 18
years or older during October 2014.
A total of 10,000 consumers (5,000
from the US and 5,000 from the UK)
who regularly use the Internet for
transactional activities such as
online banking and shopping or
managing investments or healthcare
services, completed the survey.
Participants were fairly equally
split by gender (51 percent female;
49 percent male) and represent a
range of age groups: 36 percent
under the age of 35, 27 percent
between 35 and 49 years old, and 37
percent age 50 or older.
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