A Structured Review Of Internet Domain Research: Registration, Market, Security, And Law

Abstract

This structured review synthesises the current state of research on Internet domain names across five clusters: market structure and growth, registration behaviour, DNS abuse and cybersecurity, trademark law and cybersquatting, and domain valuation in the secondary market. It draws on registry statistics (Verisign and DNIB), ICANN research (INFERMAL), independent measurement studies (Interisle Consulting Group), WIPO case statistics, the European Commission's DNS abuse study, and peer-reviewed work, most of it published between 2011 and 2026. The global base reached 401.6 million registered domain names in mid-2026 and grew by 8.1% year on year, with new generic top-level domains expanding at more than 30% a year. Abuse grows faster than the market: 19.5 million unique domains were used in malware, phishing or spam attacks in 2025, more than twice the 2024 figure, and at least 10% of all domains newly registered in gTLDs in 2025 were later blocklisted. The evidence, most of it correlational, points to price as the main driver of abuse. Phishing domains cost on average USD 4.71 at registration against USD 8.62 for benign domains, and each one-dollar reduction in price is associated with an estimated 49% increase in malicious registrations. The review documents the legal instruments available to brand owners (UDRP, URS, ACPA, NIS2 Article 28), the economics of the domain aftermarket, and the implications of the ICANN 2026 gTLD round, which closed with more than 1,600 applications. It identifies four research gaps: the cost of domain abuse for small and medium-sized enterprises, econometric evidence on registrar pricing and abuse, the security of blockchain-based namespaces, and the causal effect of registrant verification under NIS2.