New registrations

New .ie domain registrations decreased by 22.6% in 2022 when compared with 2021. This is due to a slowing down in the rate of registrations seen during the pandemic. This predicted decrease follows a surge in growth when businesses across Ireland mobilised to get online during restrictions. 48,168 new registrations were recorded in the full year 2022, a small decrease of 4% v pre-pandemic 2019.

The .IE Domain Profile Report demonstrates that SMEs continue to use websites as a core part of their business with the benefits far outweighing a social media ‘shop front’.

Cybersecurity - a key focus

We provide an additional layer of security to owners of a .ie domain name, free of charge. This service provides a constant scanning of .ie websites and involves instant notification to an SME’s hosting provider, who can help them take the corrective action once a scam has been detected. The report revealed over 500 cyber attacks were taken down in 2022. Two in five were phishing scams and one in four were malware attacks.

60% of content-rich.ie websites are secured with a security certificate, however this is down 6 percentage points year-on-year. This level of security is crucial to safeguard customer’s data.

As digital usage expands rapidly, keeping the .ie namespace safe from cyber criminals is a key focus for us.