We continue to work towards giving our customers more, and better, domain choices and to lead the growth of the alternative TLD space. To that end, we are very pleased to announce signing deals to welcome .health, .wiki, .ink, .tattoo, and .gay to GoDaddy Registry! Closing is subject to ICANN approval, and we will work together to accelerate and further the missions of these domain extensions.

.health is a domain extension for brands, organizations, and people who provide high-quality health products and services, and/or information. It was designed to be the premier web address for those who are advancing the health and wellness industry. “.health is a fast-growing and critical contributor to the health-tech ecosystem,” said Jose Rasco, its co-founder and CEO. “In the +15 years STRAAT.co has been in the domain industry, we’ve always had an amazing relationship with the team at GoDaddy and we trust them to carry on the .health mission.”

In addition, we are pleased to add .wiki, .ink, .tattoo, and .gay from the Top Level Design portfolio over to GoDaddy Registry:

• .wiki is a call to like-minded individuals to create a valuable information resource and is a universally recognized term associated with online authority.
• .ink is short, memorable, and unique. From writers to tattooists to print shops, this domain evokes originality and independent identity.
• .tattoo is bold, edgy, and unique, tattoo artists use it to make their tattoo parlor or portfolio URLs more memorable.
• .gay is something special; it’s the safe space where LGBTQ people can celebrate and connect online without fear and without getting lost in the internet sea of straightness. 

“It’s been such an honor to concept and launch .gay over the past 12 years. I am especially proud of the work that my team did in concert with community organizations and other LGBTQ+ leaders to give .gay the innovative policies and launch it deserves,” said Ray King of Top Level Design. “It was always clear that .gay was not an ordinary extension. After creating a hate-free space and donating over $180,000, I will watch proudly as GoDaddy Registry takes .gay and our entire top-level domain portfolio to a wider audience than we could reach ourselves.”

With the addition of these five high-quality TLDs to our portfolio, we’re delivering on our vision to provide our customers with more choice and with meaningful, memorable domain branding that best suits their business, brand, or personality.

“We are incredibly excited about the opportunity to continue the great work that Jose, Ray, and their respective teams have done for these TLDs,” said Nicolai Bezsonoff, General Manager of GoDaddy Registry. “Our mission continues to be to provide more options to customers when selecting a domain, and these great TLDs will help us further that.”

We are excited to welcome .health, .wiki, .ink, .tattoo, and .gay to GoDaddy Registry where they will continue to grow and prosper.

The post New TLDs to Join the GoDaddy Registry Domain Portfolio! appeared first on registry.godaddy.

The .gay domain extension carved out a vibrant, inclusive space online and helped reshape the digital landscape for LGBTQIA+ communities and their allies. By providing a platform that encourages and amplifies community ideas, businesses and projects, .gay connects users directly to a dynamic queer network.

“GoDaddy’s offering of .gay domains empowers the LGBTQIA+ community to establish a secure online presence that fully expresses their unique identities, values and contributions,” said Nicolai Bezsonoff, General Manager of GoDaddy Registry. “The .gay domain extension represents a vibrant online hub for celebrating and connecting, promoting a sense of belonging and unity among all. We’re proud to carry forward Top Level Design’s work with .gay and are eager to continue supporting and growing this community.”

With more than 27,000 domains already registered and a total donation of more than $180,000 to community beneficiaries GLAAD and CenterLink, the .gay domain continues to defy the conventional, blazing a rainbow trail for LGBTQIA+ creators, brands, organizations and thought leaders to thrive online.

“We have been on a journey with .gay for 11 years, and it is a bittersweet moment now that my time managing the .gay domain extension has come to an end,” said Ray King, CEO of Top Level Design. “In 2012, we recognized the opportunity to create a new namespace for LGBTQIA+ communities, complete with industry-first policies that would separate .gay from the status quo. It was a big impossible dream, but thanks to our small but highly committed team, we were able to launch .gay three years ago. I’m so proud of the people in our company who made this happen. The very existence of .gay, and its potential to be a fresh new space to share gay joy and to show support of global communities is enticing. GoDaddy Registry is the right company to take .gay onto its next phase of growth, and we will be rooting them on, every step of the way.”

Earlier this year, GoDaddy CEO Aman Bhutani signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, joining a coalition of more than 2,400 CEOs across the U.S. who have committed to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace. The addition of .gay domains to GoDaddy Registry is just the latest in a long line of efforts to celebrate and support diverse communities.

“Partnering with .gay helps us proudly contribute to the visibility and empowerment of the community with the goal of fostering representation and inclusion that enables LGBTQIA+ success, inspiration and confidence,” said Kristy Lilas, Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at GoDaddy. “We recognize that .gay is more than just a domain extension – it’s a powerful investment in equity for all LGBTQIA+ people.”

View and download the full 2022 .gay Impact Report here.

Learn more about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at GoDaddy, here.

The post 2022 .gay Impact Report: Celebrating Three Years of LGBTQIA+ Empowerment appeared first on registry.godaddy.

GoDaddy Registry is honored that the Government of Tuvalu chose us to become the new registry operator for the .TV country code top-level domain (ccTLD). Today, November 15, 2022, we’re thrilled to officially relaunch .TV as the online home for content creators the world over.

In addition to the critical technical and operational aspects of managing TLD transitions, our full-service offering also includes a complete rebrand and marketing makeover. For .TV, we reimagined the brand as a destination for the new generation of internet users, including content creators from Instagram influencers and TikTokkers, to YouTubers, bloggers, and Twitch streamers. The new .TV brand uses bold, energetic visuals that are familiar to our digitally native audience. The result is a fresh, fun take on a classic ccTLD that is bursting with color, while giving a nod to the retro television aesthetic.

I invite you to visit the new .TV consumer website at TurnOn.TV to learn more about the new brand, and to see how .TV is positioned for a new level of global impact and reach.

* * *

If you’re looking for an innovative registry services provider to help you manage, commercialize, and grow your TLD, or if you’re interested in applying for a new TLD in ICANN’s New gTLD Program, you’ve come to the right place. From back-end technical services, to policy and operational support, to award-winning TLD marketing, our GoDaddy Registry team has you covered.

The post GoDaddy Registry Turns on .TV! appeared first on registry.godaddy.

One of the most prevalent forms of infiltrating personal and corporate data is phishing. As recently seen at Uber, phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails, text messages, social media posts, or other communications that claim to be from reputable companies or individuals in order to trick readers into clicking on links that direct them to fraudulent websites. Once they land on the illegitimate site, the person can be unwittingly persuaded to divulge personal data, such as their username and password, credit card accounts and other sensitive information. In some cases, malware may be installed on the victim’s device.

In their Phishing Activity Trends Report for the 2nd Quarter 2022, the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) observed that there were 1,097,811 total phishing attacks, a new record and the worst quarter for phishing that APWG has ever observed. Phishing is a growing menace to internet users, and the APWG is one of a number of data feeds that GoDaddy Registry utilize in our Registry Threat Mitigation Service (RTMS) platform to identify and action this, and many other types of threats.

Here are the main types of phishing attacks that users need to be aware of:

• Phishing: Where hackers impersonate a real company to obtain login credentials often via receiving an email asking for verification of account details with a link taking the user to an imposter login screen that delivers personal or even company information directly to the attackers.
• Spear Phishing: A more sophisticated phishing attack that includes customized information that makes the attacker seem like a legitimate source. For those in the workplace, they may use your name and phone number and refer to the user’s company in the email to trick you into thinking they have a connection to you, making you more likely to click a link or attachment that they provide.
• Whaling: A popular ploy aimed at getting the internet user to transfer money or send sensitive information to an attacker via email by impersonating a real company executive. Using a fake domain that appears similar to a well-known brand, they look like normal emails from a company, typically the CEO or CFO, and ask for sensitive information (including usernames and passwords).
• Shared Document Phishing: Here an email that appears to come from file-sharing sites like Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive alerts the internet user that a document has been shared with them. The link provided in these emails will take the user to a fake login page that mimics the real login page to steal account credentials.
• Smishing and Vishing: Mobile phone-based fraud is on the increase rapidly thanks to smishing and vishing. Smishing is a phishing attack via SMS where the victim receives a text message, supposedly from a trusted source, that aims to solicit their personal information. Vishing is the same, but the attacker aims to solicit the information via a phone call.

So how can you and your employees protect yourselves against phishing? Here are a few simple tips and best practices:

• Do not click on links or attachments from senders that you do not recognize. Be especially wary of opening any .zip, .rar, or other compressed or executable file types.
• Do not provide sensitive personal information (like usernames and passwords) over email or text message.
• Watch for email senders that use suspicious or misleading domain names.
• Inspect URLs carefully to make sure they’re legitimate and not imposter sites.
• Do not try to open any shared document that you’re not expecting to receive.

The post Phishing: don’t get hooked! appeared first on registry.godaddy.