Global information assurance firm, NCC Group released the results of The New Internet Study, today of 10,000 people.
NCC Group questioned 10,000 consumers across the US and UK regarding their attitudes to these new gTLDs.
49% of respondents said they felt uncomfortable visiting a web site using a new gTLD domain.
42% of web users reported feeling less secure online since their introduction while 35% feel just as secure.
Other finding from the study:
· 45% of those we surveyed said they would feel more likely to visit sites with new gTLDs if companies were clear about the steps being taken to protect users’ personal information.
· UK respondents are more comfortable visiting sites with new domains than their US counterparts (14% vs 12%, respectively)
· US consumers are more likely to feel less secure as a result of the changes to gTLDs than their UK peers (46% US vs 39% UK, respectively)
· Baby boomers (those born in 1964 or earlier) are more likely to feel much less secure with these additional domain extensions than millennials (those born between 1980 and 1996) and generation Xers (those born between 1965 and 1979).
Of course the new gTLD’s have only been introduced to the market for one year so I’m not sure the results are that surprising
According to data from NCC Group’s Domain Abuse Monitoring service 50 of the new gTLDs have already been used to launch phishing emails in the last ten months alone.
The survey was conducted in collaboration with IDG Research Services.
Data collection took place online among US and UK consumers 18 years or older during October 2014.
A total of 10,000 consumers (5,000 from the US and 5,000 from the UK) who regularly use the Internet for transactional activities such as online banking and shopping or managing investments or healthcare services, completed the survey.
Participants were fairly equally split by gender (51 percent female; 49 percent male) and represent a range of age groups: 36% were under the age of 35; 27% were between 35 & 49 years old, and 37% were 50 or older.
NCC Group is a global information assurance firm, passionate about making the Internet safer and revolutionizing the way in which organizations think about cyber security. Through an unrivalled and unique range of services, the company provides organizations across the world with freedom from doubt that their most important assets are protected and operational at all times.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, NCC Group is a trusted advisor to more than 15,000 clients worldwide.
Headquartered in Manchester, UK, NCC Group has 20 offices across the world and employs over 1,000 specialists in information security, assurance and technology.
NCC Group delivers security consulting, software escrow and verification, website performance, software testing and domain services.
IDG Research Services specializes in marketing and media-related research for technology marketers. As a division of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading technology media, data, and services company, IDG Research Services brings the resources and experience of a large, global company to its clients in the form of a small, customer-focused business.
This company is using “www.nccgroup.trust” insted of http://www.nccgroup.com.
http://www.nccgroup.com is forwarded to http://www.nccgroup.trust
According to the site, NCC Group “launched the new top level domain .trust to build a community of websites that protect organisations and consumers as they transact, interact and share information online.”
I’d surprised if 49% of consumers even know that new gTLDs exist.
It is not too much of a stretch to state that this survey is great for the Domain Name Industry and promotes the uptake and use of domain names with new or existing domain name extensions.
First the study is clear that consumers trust domain names as THE most trustworthy way to navigate the Internet. The majority of consumers say they are most confident in the security of links they have bookmarked or have typed directly into the web browser. Ranked next, consumers most trust search results WHEN THEY RECOGNIZE THE DOMAIN NAME or URL. Then further down the list are search results delivering an unknown web address. So people use search slightly more often but click on search results with recognized addresses and trust known or typed-in domain names. (See slide 15 in the study.)
Second, the study is clear that new domain extensions that identify brands or security attributes will provide an increased sense of security to Internet users. One of the headlines (that is slightly off) is that: “positive past experience, brand familiarity, and familiarity with domain extensions are key contributors to building consumer confidence in safety/security of websites.” And there, third on the list (see slide 17) is that 50% said that the “Website has a familiar domain extension (com, net, org),” will provide an increased sense of security. BUT WAIT! Second on the list, fully 60% of respondents stated that the “Websites associated with a know brand or company” provides an increased sense of security. To me, this says that loans.chase will be seen as clearly more secure than chaseonlineloans.com where Chase can build brand awareness (and where long domain names with brand names embedded are often a source of Phishing attack). Similarly and in a short period of time, onlinepayment.bank and onlinepayment.secure will be able to build awareness as secure places.
To me, this question was asked improperly and that is why the conclusion is flawed.
While one choice is, “Website has a familiar domain extension (com, net, org),” there is no choice for an option that the “website identifies with secure practices or with a brand (such as .secure, .bank, .chase).” If the survey had such a choice, the conclusion might have been different.
I like the approach of the Domain Name Association Survey that simply asked, “Where would you go to make payments online?” and the choices included onlinepayment.com, onlinepayment.uk, onlinepayment.secure and onlinepayment.bank. This type of question lets the respondent choose from a more concrete set of options.
In the DNA study, respondents chose new domain extensions (.bank, .secure and so on) over the existing extensions (clearly craving security), EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD NEVER HEARD OF .BANK AND .SECURE. See the survey results at http://thedna.org/pr_20150204.php.
I also think the conclusion in the headline to this article leads one to incorrect conclusions.
The study states “Roughly one-half of consumers (49%) express discomfort visiting websites ending in new domains.
Only 13% of consumers are comfortable visiting websites with new domain extensions.” BUT WAIT AGAIN! The study (slide 32) indicate that 51% are “extremely, very or somewhat comfortable.”
The headline chooses to ignore “somewhat comfortable” responses. In this case, the statistics are bent to reach a conclusion. The question did not have as a choice “somewhat uncomfortable.” If it had, would the study authors have ignored the responses ticking that box?
What does uncomfortable mean? Again, I prefer the more specific questions of the DNA study where 60% said there should be more domain name choices and, given a set of specific choices, users selected new domain extension as often as not for going online to buy shoes, find a restaurant, pay bills, get the news or establish a global, reputable presence.
The results to this question also must be weighed by the first conclusion of the NCC study that, “Fewer than 50% of consumers feel very secure on most websites today.” If less than half already feel uncomfortable, that half won’t change their opinion when asked about new domain extensions. To me this says that people are not feeling very secure and this leaves the door wide open for new domain extensions (or existing ones) to address that need. As awareness of new domain extensions grows and branding is established, new domain names can fill this need.
There is another mis-leading headline: “Four out of ten respondents report feeling less secure online with the introduction of new gTLDs, while one-third report feeling just as secure as before.”
While it is true one third feel as secure as before, another 18% “don’t think new domain extensions will affect security.” What is the difference between “just as secure” and “no affect to security.” (See slide 33.) The headline should read that 60% of respondents feel just as secure or more secure with the introduction of new domain extensions.” This is a pretty darned good percentage given the general unawareness.
These questions also ignore new protections that are required of all new domain name registries. How would the results be different if there was a reference in the question to those? There would be a split of opinion as to the efficacy of the new protections but they should be taken into account when asking this sort of question to an audience that is generally unaware of new domain extension introduction.
The management summary as I read this study should be that: Internet users are more concerned than ever about security. Users navigate the Internet through trust in domain names they know or can recognize as secure. Domain name registries that are branded under well-know trade names or those branding themselves as secure places to visit will be best positioned to address this need going forward. Promoting awareness of new domain extensions is the key to developing a consumer base that will make informed decisions.
Kurt Pritz
The Domain Name Association
Hello Kurt,
Everybody is more concerned about the ALGO treatment GOOGLE will give all New gTLDS and you know this. There is a huge conflict of interest here that a lot of watchdog agencies are concerned about Googles behind the scenes manipulations to maintain its Monopoly grip on the Domain Name System of which you are aware of also. How about Operability questions ? Everybody can avoid the gTLD gamble by using Sub-Domains and have evert quality your selling for free.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger)
I just think about this new tlds based on a viewpoint of investments. I do think it’s to be better within upcoming three years because that it’s a big business activity in global market.
There are so many gTLDS today and I am sure a lot of people are not aware of all those that are available today. I can see in the future. Geo based gTLDS like .tokyo or .london are great for local searches, not only for businesses but searchers finding businesses in their locality.