Nominet, the register for .uk internet names, has introduced law enforcement landing pages for domains suspended due to crime; to provide information for those who may have been affected by activity related to the domain name.
In work with the City of London’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) Nominet will begin re-directing web users to a secure site providing consumer advice and education for potential victims of sales of counterfeit branded goods.
PIPCU referrals account for most .UK domain names suspended due to crime. Since 2014 108,589 domains used for criminal activity have been taken out of action. The content of the landing page has been developed with PIPCU to provide clear messaging for the public. In 2021 Nominet will extend the trial to include the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). After the pilot Nominet will assess the impact and report publicly on the next steps.
Eleanor Bradley, MD of Registry and Public Benefit at Nominet says: “Criminal activity is as unacceptable online as it is offline, and the sale of counterfeit goods continues to result in innocent victims of cybercrime as consumers are duped by increasingly sophisticated websites that are not all they seem to be.
“Our new landing pages pilot seeks to provide real time education and advice to those who may have been victims of criminal activity at the point they attempt to access the website in question. It is the latest step in our strong collaboration with UK law enforcement agencies and we’ll be monitoring the pages closely to determine the benefit for the public to ensure we can help as many people as possible to stay safe when shopping online.”
At PIPCU, Detective Constable Weizmann Jacobs said: “We work closely with Nominet to disrupt criminals who try to operate in the ‘.UK domain’. These law enforcement landing pages, which include advice and guidance for the public, help us in protecting consumers from the dangers of counterfeit goods and protect their personal information when shopping online.”
In February, Nominet acquired Boston, US-based cyber security company CyGlass.
