Startups outpace established businesses on domain security

A new report from domain registrar CSC finds that that ‘unicorns’ — privately owned start-ups or relatively new innovative companies with a valuation of over $1 billion — have a higher score than the Forbes Global 2000 companies in five out of eight domain security capabilities.

The report analyzes security posture based on adoption of key domain security features like type of registrar, registry lock, certificate authority authorization (CAA) records, DNS redundancy, DNS security extensions (DNSSEC), sender policy framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and domain-based message authentication, reporting, and conformance (DMARC).

It compares the domain security practices of the Global 2000 with those of the world’s top 100 unicorns to determine if newer start-ups are more attuned to domain security risks and have the ability to implement the right practices to address.

The majority of the top unicorns are IT companies which might help explain why they lead in many of the security features that are managed through DNS records. Yet only one percent employ DNS redundancy and close to 90 percent use a single cloud infrastructure. The adoption of advanced domain security measures could be low due to higher use of consumer-grade registrars, which often do not prioritize or even offer certain domain security measures.

“Domain names, DNS, and brand trust are fundamental to our online presence. Long overlooked dependencies will compound cyber risks as new AI and IT stacks emerge,” says Vincent D’Angelo, senior director at CSC. “It’s encouraging to see unicorns adopting strong domain security practices early, yet much work remains. As these new tech platforms scale, continued prioritization of domain security will be essential to reducing cybercrime, strengthening trust and safety, and lowering systemic risk across customer and partner supply chains.”

Among other highlights of the report, the semiconductor and banking industries show the most significant rise in overall domain security scores over the past year, increasing their rankings by
five places each.

DMARC adoption has shown the fastest growth among domain security measures, rising quickly from 39 percent in 2020 to 80 percent in 2025.

You can get the full report from the CSC site.

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