.cm

Overview

• .cm is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to the Republic of Cameroon.
• It has been used for Cameroonian entities and, at times, for global use including domain hacks and URL shorteners.
• The TLD attracted attention because of typosquatting (misspellings of .com) and past registry wildcarding that redirected unregistered names to monetized pages.

History

• Introduced: 29 April 1995.
• Early managers: initially delegated to INTELCAM; Cameroon Telecommunications (CAMTEL) succeeded INTELCAM after a 1998 restructuring.
• 2002: Agence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (ANTIC) was created.
• 2006: The registry (then CAMTEL) implemented a wildcard DNS record that redirected all unregistered .cm domains to a parking/monetized landing page.
• 2009: High-profile auctions and sales of .cm names were reported (examples below) and the TLD was flagged in security reports.
• 2010: Cameroon passed Law No. 2010/013 clarifying ANTIC's mission, including registration and policy roles for .cm.
• 2012 and 2019: Government decrees reaffirmed ANTIC's responsibilities for the TLD.
• 2009–2024: Multiple administrative transfers and requests took place; ANTIC submitted a formal transfer request to IANA in September 2023 and the redelegation was accepted in 2024.

Usage and Audience

• Intended use: entities connected with Cameroon (government, businesses, organisations, individuals).
• Actual use:
  • Some use within Cameroon for local presences.
  • Used internationally for domain hacks and URL shorteners (examples: get.cm, hill.cm).
  • Attracted typosquatters seeking traffic from mistyped .com addresses.

Registration Rules

• Eligibility: Open to applicants whether Cameroonian or not; no residence requirement is necessary. Registered domain content is subject to Cameroonian law.
• Structure: Registrations may be made directly at the second level (example: example.cm) or under defined second-level domains (example: example.com.cm).
• Second-level domains (selected list):
  • .com.cm — for-profit businesses
  • .org.cm — non-profit organisations
  • .gov.cm — government and state entities (restricted)
  • .edu.cm — universities and training institutions (restricted)
  • .info.cm — press organs
  • .pol.cm — political parties
  • .art.cm, .tour.cm, .rel.cm, .asso.cm, .perso.cm, .aero.cm, .gare.cm, .net.cm — sector-specific uses
• Name restrictions and reserved names:
  • Certain terms are reserved (state institutions, regions, historical and cultural heritage, etc.) and some second-level zones are restricted (.gov.cm, .edu.cm, .pol.cm).
  • Names manifestly contrary to public order or morality, those expressing racial/ethnic hatred, and names affecting third-party rights (trademarks, copyrights) are prohibited.
• Allowed characters and format:
  • Letters A–Z (case-insensitive), digits 0–9 and the hyphen "-" only.
  • Maximum overall length: 255 characters; maximum label length: 63 characters.
  • Labels directly under the root must be at least 2 characters (e.g., aa.cm) or a combination of letter and number (e.g., a2.cm).
  • Subfield extensions must be at least two characters.
• Prohibitions:
  • Domain names consisting only of numbers are prohibited.
  • Names beginning or ending with a hyphen are prohibited.
  • Accented characters are not permitted.

SEO and Brand Impact

• Reputation issues:
  • In 2009 a security report by McAfee identified .cm among the riskiest domains globally, reporting approximately 36.7% of active .cm sites posed a security risk.
  • The wildcarding practice and prevalence of typosquatting harmed the TLD's reputation and led to significant security and brand concerns for users and trademark owners.
• Brand considerations:
  • Organizations using .cm for legitimate purposes (shorteners, domain hacks) should be aware of the broader reputation issues and the potential for user mistrust.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Wildcarding controversy (2006): the registry's wildcard DNS entry redirected all unregistered .cm names to a monetized landing page, fueling typosquatting concerns.
• Auctions and sales (2009): reported high-value sales and auction activity (example: Hotels.cm reported at $81,100; NameJet sales reported over $500,000 on one day and over $2 million in the first week for .cm names).
• Legitimate uses cited:
  • CyanogenMod used get.cm as a memorable URL shortener/distribution link.
  • The Hill newspaper uses hill.cm as a URL shortener for social media links.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       CM

organisation: Agence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (ANTIC)
address:      Street 1.792
address:      P.O. Box 6170
address:      Yaoundé
address:      Cameroon

contact:      administrative
name:         Director General
organisation: Agence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (ANTIC)
address:      Street 1.792
address:      P.O. Box 6170
address:      Yaoundé
address:      Cameroon
phone:        +237 694 40 58 68
e-mail:       dnc@antic.cm

contact:      technical
name:         .CM System Administrator
organisation: Agence Nationale des Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication (ANTIC)
address:      Street 1.792
address:      P.O. Box 6170
address:      Yaoundé
address:      Cameroon
phone:        +237 673 820 320
e-mail:       dotcm@antic.cm

nserver:      AUTH02.NS.UU.NET 198.6.1.82
nserver:      NS-CM.AFRINIC.NET 196.216.168.67 2001:43f8:120:0:0:0:0:67
nserver:      NS-CM.NIC.FR 194.0.9.1 2001:678:c:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      NS.ITU.CH 156.106.192.121 2a00:7580:60:2141:0:0:0:10
nserver:      NS1.NIC.CM 195.24.205.60
nserver:      NS2.NIC.CM 195.24.205.61
nserver:      PHLOEM.UOREGON.EDU 128.223.32.35 2001:468:d01:20:0:0:80df:2023
ds-rdata:     45784 13 2 bc03884ae075280b78a03306ebcd816e29e014a74247c68887ff1b37d22f81f5

whois:        whois.nic.cm

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://www.nic.cm

created:      1995-04-29
changed:      2025-07-15
source:       IANA