Zoom domain registrations skyrocket

Some of the registrations are for bad purposes.

Videoconferencing solution Zoom is having its moment as millions of people work from home and kids take classes from their bedrooms.

My daughter is now getting instruction on Zoom the majority of the school day. My wife and I use the service throughout the day for meetings and conference calls.

Zoom is becoming a verb, much like “google it” became another phrase for “search it”.

With this, the number of domain names registered with the word zoom in them has skyrocketed. The picture above is a 90-day look at registrations in .com and .net that contain the word Zoom, according to Verisign’s DomainScope tool.

There are legitimate reasons to register domains with the word “zoom” in them. The videoconferencing company doesn’t have a lock on the term. Many of the 5 to 15 daily registrations earlier this year were for uses unrelated to the videoconferencing company.

But the spike in recent weeks is directly related to the Zoom bonanza.

Some of these registrations could be legitimate, even if they might run afoul of trademark rules. For example, someone registered OnlineZoomMediations(.)com. Another person registered ZoomwithLila(.)com, which forwards to the person’s Zoom instance. It looks to be an easy way for people to connect with her, much like an easy-to-remember Facebook or YouTube URL.

Other registrations are by nefarious actors trying to hack people. Check Point Software says that 4% of the registrations have suspicious characteristics.

From a domain name perspective, the surge in Zoom’s popularity might also help the .US top level domain. Zoom bought Zoom.com in 2018 but still uses Zoom.us for its website.