Phuck all spammers.
An onslaught of spam emails are currently making the rounds, originating from recently registered .PW domains.
While the Palau registry promotes .PW domains to stand for “professional web”, it appears that the opening of the ccTLD to the masses at low prices, invited several spammers.
Such spamming .PW domains that are used to promote “smokeless cigarettes” and “plastic food containers” include the following:
All of these random compounds were registered with NameCheap, that clearly needs to take some action against the spammers.
Hello All,
We are aware about the spam-outbreak and have spent the past month and a half by undertaking a massive cleanup initiative. We have not waited for the Registrars to investigate and respond to complaints; rather we have ourselves taken down domain names which have proven to be abusive.
Our abuse desk has been kept busy with large volumes of complaints against .pw domains, each being responded within the time frame of 24 hours (and in most cases within a matter of few hours).
To curb this abuse, we have considered to respond and taken down reported domain names belonging to this Registrar. In order to control this incident, we have tightened the nooze around other Registrars as well, thus implying the repercussions of our AUP violation (which we have been very particular about).
We have also been eliminating abusive domains name proactively at the registration phase by using pattern matching and anomaly based methods. This approach has proven to be very effective and has successfully eliminated 20-30% of domain names which are likely to be used for illicit activities.
In addition, to responding to complaints from individual internet users, the .pw Registry has been working closing with anti-abuse entities such as Symantec ,Spamhaus and SURBL. We have also tied up with NameSentry to beef up our abuse monitoring process. Being a Registry, we have access to very limited information as compared to a Registrar. Yet we have managed to weed out and terminate abusive domain names more proactively, compared to other Registries out there.
Last but not the least, we would like to thank each and everyone who have criticized, appreciated or raised concerns in our effort to curb the abuse. In order to assist us with our efforts, we request you to update us with your complaints at abuse@registry.pw.
P.S. – The domain names mentioned above have already been suspended buy us.
Regards
Donesh Laher
Cyber Security Analyst
.PW Registry