ICANN Domain Metrica Project Update and TimelineCarlos Hernandez GananSiôn LloydSamaneh Tajalizadehkhoob

The Security, Stability, and Resilience (SSR) Research team of ICANN's Office of CTO is pleased to provide a brief update on the status of the ICANN Domain Metrica project. While some of you may already be familiar with this work, we would like to offer a quick introduction for those who are not:

Domain Metrica is a new platform that brings together different datasets and measurements to generate useful metrics and metadata about domain names. While these metrics can then be displayed, filtered, viewed on Metrica's web interface, the underlying data can also be downloaded either via the web user interface or an application programming interface. More background can be found in this recent blog or the project's FAQs.

The first module of Domain Metrica is led by Siôn Lloyd from the SSR team. In the first module of the platform, we are concentrating on providing metrics on abuse concentrations of domain names for generic top-level domain (gTLD) registries and registrars. In the longer term, however, we plan to include other metadata on domains, such as abuse risk scores, categorization of maliciousness, and other Domain Name System-related information.

When a user first logs in to Domain Metrica, they are presented with a homepage showing some headline statistics covering the gTLD space. This includes, for example, the total number of domains captured in our data and the number of those with current abuse reports, along with a deeper dive into the various abuse categories. Users can also search for specific domains, gTLDs, or registrars to view statistical data for those entities. Once filtered down to one of these entity types, users can perform limited comparisons with others, currently up to three; this is an area we are looking to enhance.

Currently, we are conducting a small pilot phase with a select group of invited users. This marks the first time external users have access to Domain Metrica. Our pilot users represent different parts of the ICANN community, which is essential as one of the key features of Domain Metrica is that registry- and registrar-affiliated users gain access to more detailed data on domains under their oversight.

The release of Domain Metrica will be phased, with the first planned release occurring toward the end of October, just before ICANN81. This initial release will grant access to all registrar- and registry-affiliated users, giving them a chance to explore the system and familiarize themselves with its features. We will host a session at ICANN81 to talk about Domain Metrica and provide a demonstration of the platform to the community, ensuring that all registrar- and registry-affiliated users have access by that time. This will also be an opportunity for the broader community to get acquainted with the platform.

In early December, we will expand to the rest of the ICANN community, enabling anyone with an ICANN Account to use the system. These users will have access to all the same features as the registry and registrar users, except for the detailed lists of domains with associated abuse reports.

However, this is just the beginning. Domain Metrica is designed for continuous enhancement, and we are committed to improving the quality of the metrics shared. We will be adding new data sources and metrics over time, ensuring the system remains relevant and valuable for the foreseeable future.