Dot TK Joins Forces With Facebook To Fight Internet Fraud

For Immediate Release

Dot TK Joins Forces With Facebook And Chinese Anti-Phishing Alliance To Take Lead In Fighting Internet Fraud

Wellington, July 21, 2011 -- Dot TK, which offers the free .TK domain name extension linked with Tokelau, a New Zealand administered Pacific Island territory, has partnered with Facebook and the Anti-Phishing Alliance of China (APAC) today to fight Internet fraud and abuse.

Both Facebook and APAC have signed agreements today with the Dot TK Registry as trusted partners. With these agreements in place, Dot TK becomes the first country code top level domain (TLD) to join forces with Facebook and APAC to tackle domain name and URL fraud.

“The new co-operation with Facebook and APAC significantly enhances Dot TK’s resources in its ongoing fight against phishing attacks, said Dot TK Founder and Managing Director, Joost Zuurbier. “I am hopeful that with the implementation of these agreements, Dot TK will become one of the Internet’s safest domain name extensions over the next few months.”

The agreements allow Facebook and APAC to connect their anti-abuse systems with Dot TK’s domain name database using Dot TK’s Anti-Abuse API system, which enables .TK domain names to be blocked immediately when an electronic report is received.

“Facebook and APAC can now take immediate action to shut down a .TK domain that has been used for phishing and spamming attempts once they are alerted to an attack,” Mr Zuurbier said.

The agreement with Facebook means that Dot TK will provide the social network with details about fraudulent Facebook profiles and application URLs and Facebook will report .TK domain names targeted by phishers and spammers.

Under the APAC agreement, APAC will report any .TK websites that it identifies as leading users to a false website. Mr Zuurbier said most of these false websites were trying to pass themselves off as a Chinese Internet service and involve fraudsters attempting to obtain login information from Chinese Internet users.

With its new agreements Dot TK is well-positioned to take a lead in fighting domain name and URL fraud, he said. “We are the only TLD with an anti-abuse API and therefore the capability to immediately shut down a domain name that is attacked by fraudsters after we receive an electronic report from a trusted partner.

“This is because we offer free domain names and our registry maintains ownership of .TK domain names. Other TLDs on-sell their domain names, which are registered in the name of another person or company, making it difficult for the registry to integrate its anti-abuse policy and API and therefore act fast against abuse or misuse.”

Mr Zuurbier said Dot TK will continue to work actively to expand its network of trusted partners.

Dot TK is the Internet’s fastest growing domain name registry. With its current exponential growth, Dot TK is poised to sign up its 5 millionth active domain name registration.

ABOUT DOT TK Dot TK was founded in 2001 and is a joint venture between the government of Tokelau, its communication arm, Teletok, and BV Dot TK, a private organisation headquartered in the Netherlands. It is the only registry worldwide that provides free country code top level domain names. These domain names carry the .TK extension belonging to Tokelau. Dot TK is headquartered in the Netherlands with offices in London and Palo Alto. In 2007 Dot TK signed a permanent license agreement with Tokelau, and contributes more than 20 per cent to the nation’s GDP as well as providing free broadband connectivity.

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