To identify and eradicate the misuse of domain names and ensure that the Isle of Man remains a difficult jurisdiction for spamming and phishing operations.

The Isle of Man, registry for .im domains, today announced that it has contracted with McAfee, an online security provider, to identify and eradicate the misuse of domain names and ensuring that the Isle of Man remains a difficult jurisdiction for spamming and phishing operations.

McAfee has recently identified that spammers and phishers are attempting to target domain names of small islands in an effort to circumvent protection software currently deployed by many individuals.

Both the .im registry and McAfee offers highest standards in preventing domain name misuse through spam and phishing. Following discussions McAfee and the .im registry have agreed to cooperate to ensure that such abuse becomes increasingly difficult to perpetrate.

"The operators or the governments of the listed islands really can't be blamed for the abuse we are seeing, in fact they are no different from any other country in terms of stopping abuse of their TLDs by spammers," said Guy Roberts, Sr. Development Manager of McAfee's Anti-Spam R&D team.

"Individuals who abuse the internet will always seek to identify any vulnerability. Domicilium is proud of its security reputation and the tough stance it takes when it identifies any abuse. Working closely with an organisation like McAfee can only provide further benefit to our customer base," said Andy Swearman, Managing Director of Domicilium WHO Administer the .im registry.