.cm

.cm
Introduced 1995
TLD type Country code top-level domain
Status Active
Registry Camtel
Sponsor Camtel
Intended use Entities connected with  Cameroon
Actual use Takes advantage of misspellings of .com domains, like .co
Registration restrictions Local presence not required
Structure Registrations are made directly at the second level (there are also third-level registrations for government sites under gov.cm)
Documents Registrar
Website http://netcom.cm, http://nic.cm

.cm is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cameroon.

The official registrar for .cm domains is Netcom.cm, based in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. Netcom.cm Sarl was founded in early 2008 as a partner of ANTIC, the Information Technology Regulator for Cameroon. On October 15, 2008, NETCOM.cm Sarl launched the registry service for .com.cm, .co.cm and .net.cm. The current version of .cm domains went live August 27, 2009.

History

In August 2006, it was reported that the .cm registry had set up a wildcard DNS record, so that all unregistered domains in this top-level domain go to a parking page with paid search links. This was likely intended to take advantage of typographical errors by users attempting to reach .com web sites.[1]

Recent auctions of .cm domains have skyrocketed as high as $81,000 for what pitchmen have termed "prime real estate".[2] However, some bloggers have noted that nothing of any real value was actually put up for auction, despite the price war.[3] Namejet.com, the official auction site for the .CM domain registrar Netcom.cm, sold over $500,000 in .cm domain names the first day and over $2 million in the first week. [4]

Reputation

In a report published in December 2009 by McAfee, "Mapping the Mal Web - The world's riskiest domain", .cm was reportedly the riskiest domain in the world, with 36.7% of the sites posing a security risk to PCs.[5] It is widely assumed that malicious domain programmers rely on inadvertent misspellings of well-trafficked websites ending in ".com" to lure unsuspecting users to their domains.

The .cm top-level domain is also used for domain name hacks by legitimate organizations, such as the CyanogenMod project which uses get.cm as an easily remembered URL shortener for distributing versions of its software.

References

  1. ↑ Berryhill, John (August 5, 2006). "Nation of Cameroon Typo-Squats the Entire .com Space". Circleid.com. Retrieved August 16, 2006.
  2. ↑ "Hotels.cm sells for $81,100". Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  3. ↑ Ed Muller. "CM Traffic Domains not for sale". Archived from the original on 2009-09-05. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  4. ↑ "NameJet.com - the auction site for the official .cm registrar sold $500K in 1st Day. Top site sales by Namejet.com included: hotels.cm $81,100, sex.cm $51,300, taobao.cm $35,100, and mail.cm $30,100". Thedomains.com. Retrieved 2009-09-03. Archived 2009-09-05
  5. ↑ "McAfee uncovers riskiest domains". CNET. Retrieved April 29, 2010.

External links