WASHINGTON, D.C. – “.INSURANCE,” the new Internet web extension exclusively for insurance providers and distributors around the world will open for general availability on June 15 at 00:00:00 UTC. Managed by fTLD Registry Services, an organization owned, operated and governed by banks, insurance companies and financial services trade associations, .INSURANCE is the place for members of the global insurance community to enhance and differentiate their online presence in the marketplace. During the sunrise registration period, 234 applications were submitted for .INSURANCE domain names.
fTLD launched the “.BANK” Internet web extension last year to an overwhelmingly positive response. Read more about the progress of .BANK one year later, here.
“Similar to the launch of .BANK, we’re excited to provide eligible and verified members of the financial services community with new options to boost their online presence, and provide a more secure experience for their customers,“ said Craig Schwartz, managing director of fTLD. “The global insurance community is vast, with millions of companies, agents, and brokers participating. With .BANK and now .INSURANCE, we’re providing great value to the financial services community, as well as helping to build trust with their customers.”
fTLD necessitates strong security requirements for entities registering domain names in .INSURANCE and .BANK, setting itself apart from most domain registry operators. In addition to the mandatory verification and re-verification of eligibility, strong encryption, and email authentication, fTLD monitors for compliance with many other measures, which can be found here.
Insurance companies, licensed agents/agencies, brokers/brokerages or other equivalents, trade associations, select service providers and government regulators are eligible to register domains in .INSURANCE. Domains are available from fTLD-approved registrars and will initially be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. The current list of registrars is available at www.register.insurance/registrars.
.INSURANCE costs
Registrars are responsible for setting their domain registration fee. Domain registration fees vary from registrar-to-registrar based on a number of factors including additional services registrants may purchase from them. fTLD is responsible only for setting the fee it charges to registrars and it is the same fee for all.
fTLD founders
The Allstate Corporation
American Bankers Association
BB&T Corporation
Canadian Bankers Association
City National Bank
Comerica Incorporated
Dollar Bank, FSB
Financial Services Roundtable
Huntington Bancshares
Independent Community Bankers of America KeyCorp
Nationwide
New York Life Insurance Company
The PNC Financial Services Group
Property Casualty Insurers Association of America Progressive Casualty Insurance Company Prudential Insurance Company of America
State Farm Mutual Automotive Insurance Company SunTrust
U.S. Bancorp
Woodforest National Bank
In a press release announcing the new Internet Top Level Domain, fTLD said it maintains high standards and takes a proactive approach to working with the global financial services community to enhance trust in the online financial services system. fTLD employs enhanced consumer protection safeguards designed to mitigate malicious activities including, cybersquatting, typosquatting, spoofing and phishing.
fTLD’s Security Requirements were developed by its community-based Security Requirements Working Group, and are reviewed and updated as needed to address evolving community concerns.
.INSURANCE commitment to trust and security
fTLD’s Security Requirements include:
- Mandatory verification and re-verification of charter/licensure for regulated entities to ensure that only legitimate members of the global insurance community are awarded domain names.
- Domain name system security extensions (DNSSEC) to ensure that Internet users are landing on legitimate websites and not being misdirected to malicious ones.
- Email authentication to mitigate spoofing, phishing and other malicious activities.
- Multi-factor authentication by registry and registrars to ensure that any change to registration data is made only by authorized users of the registered entity.
- Strong encryption (i.e., TLS) to ensure security of communications over the Internet.
- Prohibition of proxy/privacy registration services to ensure full disclosure of domain registration information so bad actors cannot hide.
- .INSURANCE domain names must use .INSURANCE DNS Name Servers to ensure compliance with technical requirements.
About .INSURANCE: The new .INSURANCE Internet web extension is the place for insurance providers and distributors to enhance and differentiate their online presence in the marketplace. Directed by insurance and security experts, .INSURANCE is a trusted, verified and more secure location online for the insurance community and the customers it serves. All .INSURANCE domain names must meet enhanced security requirements and only verified members of the global insurance community will be approved For more information, visit www.register.insurance.
About fTLD Registry Services: fTLD Registry Services, LLC’s mission is to operate generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) to enable verified members of the banking and insurance communities to meet their security, technology and business needs arising from ICANN’s introduction of new gTLDs. fTLD is owned, operated and governed by banks, insurance companies and their respective trade associations. For more information please visit www.ftld.com.
