About the .gov registry
Who we are
We are the .gov registry. We're a team of designers, developers, and product people. We help government organizations in the U.S. gain public trust by making .gov a well-known, reliable, and secure space online. The .gov registry is part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
What we do
We manage the .gov domain registry. This includes the .gov registrar.
- A registry contains domain names and registrant information for a top-level domain (like .gov, .com, or .us).
- A registrar manages domain name registration.
We are the authoritative source for all .gov domain names and registrants
We manage the authoritative record of all .gov domain names and their registrants. We ensure that .gov domain names resolve in the global domain name system (DNS). DNS maps easy-to-remember names to hard-to-recall numbers. For example, this allows us to use “cisa.gov” instead of something like “104.106.178.124.”
We manage .gov domain name registration
We manage domain name registration for .gov. You can only request and register .gov domain names through the .gov registrar. We make it easy for eligible government organizations to register .gov domains. We verify the identity and eligibility of everyone who requests a .gov domain.
We provide critical infrastructure for governments at all levels
.Gov domains are critical to providing access to public services. We make .gov a trusted, secure space by:
- Using multi-factor authentication for all accounts in our domain registration and management system
- Preloading all new domains. This action requires browsers to use a secure HTTPS connection with your website. This ensures that the content you publish is exactly what your visitors get.
- Administering our domain requirements to protect the integrity of .gov
- Publishing the complete list of .gov domains
- Recommending security best practices for .gov domain holders
- Securing the .gov namespace with ongoing improvements
Follow our product strategy and development activities on GitHub.
We offer support for your .gov domain
What we offer
Domain registration: Start a .gov domain request or learn about the information you'll need to complete your request.
Requirements for requesting a .gov domain
- You must be a government employee, or be working on behalf of a government organization, to request a .gov domain.
- You must have a Login.gov account. Login.gov provides a simple and secure process for signing in to many government services with one account.
- Before you request your first .gov domain, you must verify your identity with Login.gov. This is a necessary layer of security that requires you to prove you are you, and not someone pretending to be you. Get help with Login.gov.
If you have the information you need, requesting your domain might take around 15 minutes.
Domain name consultation: If you need help coming up with your .gov domain name, contact us.
Domain management support: Once your .gov domain is up and running we’ll support you.
- Check the status of your domain requests and manage your registered domains.
- Stay informed about domain security best practices.
- Edit information about your contacts or your domain (like changes to your DNS settings) anytime.
What we don’t offer
While we’re continuously improving our services, you’ll need some services to get online that we don’t offer.
- We don’t offer DNS hosting.
- We don’t host .gov websites or email.
