The anti-spam firm Knujon.com offered the conclusion that of the 900 accredited domain registrars, the following 10 are most culpable for allowing the registration of spam domains:
1. XinNet Cyber Information Company Limited
2. eNom
3. Network Solutions
4. Register.com
5. Planet Online
6. Regtime Ltd.
7. OnlineNIC Inc.
8. Spot Domain LLC
9. Wild West Domains
10. Hichina Web Solutions
According to Knujon, all of these registrars were associated with an inordinate number of spam messages and suspicious or otherwise malicious domains. As a part of its overall mission, Knujon tries to convince domain registrars to dismantle nefarious domains.
In the case of these top 10 registrars, Knujon said that it suspects that they simply lack adequate support staff to prevent abuse by its clients, and in many cases, it's only after someone buys a domain and then resells it that the domain falls into the hands of a spammer.
So who's buying up all these domains? As of last November, one of the world biggest offenders went offline permanently.
Security experts identified Northern California's McColo Corp. as one of the world's leading purveyors of fake drugs, phony designer goods, fake security products and child pornography. The company lost its Internet service, and the world saw an instant two-thirds drop in spam.
Spam has since returned to its normal level.