Key Point: dotBRAND domains enable brand companies to maintain complete control over their namespace, closing gaps in traditional defensive registration strategies.
Trademark holders can secure their own top-level domain namespace via dotBRAND domains, systematically preventing phishing, cybersquatting and counterfeit shops. Applications for dotBRAND domains remain open until 12 August 2026.
Phishing, cybersquatting and counterfeit shops represent structural security risks that every company with a digital presence must address. Traditional protective measures such as defensive registrations of individual domain variants offer only limited protection, as the attack surface remains across generic top-level domains (TLDs) such as .com, .de or .net.
dotBRAND domains offer a fundamentally different approach: a company obtains its own top-level domain based on its brand name, for example .volkswagen or .siemens. In doing so, the company maintains complete control over which domains can be registered within this namespace. Phishing attackers cannot use domains in the .volkswagen space to create deceptively authentic replica sites.
The application process for dotBRAND domains is managed by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and is currently open until 12 August 2026. Brand companies wishing to implement this protective measure should use this timeframe to initiate the registration process.
Source: www.security-insider.de · Published 30 July 2026
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