.top explained

.top
Introduced:November 18, 2014
(General Availability)
Type:Generic top-level domain
(gTLD)
Status:Active
Registry:.top registry
Sponsor:Jiangsu Bangning Science & Technology Co., Ltd.
Registereddomains:2,066,084
Dateregistereddomains:24 January 2023
Refregistereddomains:[1]

.top is a generic top-level domain, officially delegated in ICANN's New gTLD Program on August 4, 2014.

The domain name extension .top is managed and operated by the .top registry (registry backend ZDNS) which belongs to Jiangsu Bangning Science & Technology Co., Ltd. in Nanjing, China, and can be registered by anyone since November 18, 2014 without special requirements.

A second level domain under the top level domain (TLD) .top can consist of digits, letters, hyphens and specific special characters while it can have a length of 1 up to (a maximum) of 63 characters. Like most other TLDs, it can be registered for a period of at least 1 year up to (a maximum) of 10 years in advance. The private registration (WHOIS privacy) of .top domains is supported, as is the ability to register internationalized domain names (IDNs), which include the character sets Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.

Development

Issues

.top domains are often used for malware and phishing, and the TLD is included in the list of those banned for some antimalware vendors such as Malwarebytes.[5] .top is blocked by default by Snort rules.[6]

Notes and References

  1. https://ntldstats.com/tld/top nTLD stats. greenSec GmbH.
  2. Web site: 信息服务 . MIIT . zh . 31 December 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081108231236/http://www.miit.gov.cn/ . 8 November 2008 .
  3. Web site: Why is .TOP domain one of the only FOUR new gTLDs approved to be built website with in China? . .Top Domains . 15 November 2018.
  4. Web site: Whois . .Top Domains . 15 November 2018.
  5. Web site: Malwarebytes Browser Guard Settings screen. 2021-09-15. Malwarebytes Support. en-US.
  6. Web site: INDICATOR-COMPROMISE Suspicious .top dns query . 29 April 2019.