Product Blog

Did you know that an IP address can be a good starting point for a cybercrime investigation or even just a routine check of suspicious activities? For instance, when you go to malware data feeds, or any threat intelligence site, one of the usual indicators of compromise (IoCs) you’ll see are known malicious IP addresses.

However, like any threat data, an IP address becomes utterly useless when it doesn’t provide any meaningful details. What then? Tools such as WHOIS Lookup might help to dig deeper. 

So, what exactly is WHOIS Lookup, and what information can it provide about an IP address?

Nominet’s takedown of 28,937 malicious sites is a small triumph for law enforcement and other internet stakeholders. With help from authorities, the domain registry has been on a quest to purge the .uk namespace of rogue domains since 2009. Now, for the first time in five years, the total number of suspended domains has finally reflected a decline. The figure may not seem like a lot, considering that it only accounts for 0.22% of the 13 million domains registered in the U.K. Still, it was a milestone for an industry fraught with prolific bad actors. In the U.K. alone, an average of 800 cyber attacks per hour hit councils. This number translates into around 263 million in just half a year.

Curbing cybercrime is an essential undertaking for internet authorities, in light of new digital technologies, and the Internet’s evolving business model. Unfortunately, lack of resources at both the domain level and cybersecurity know-how, as well as legal barriers, slow down authorities in their efforts to hunt down perpetrators. This can be made easier, though, with a bulk domain lookup solution.

Bulk WHOIS API is a good example of a research tool that cyber investigators, electronic crime units, and regulatory agencies can rely on to faster inspect a significant volume of domains. With an IP address, email address, or domain name, users can obtain pertinent registrant information for a group of web addresses. Let’s take a closer look at how users can get more out of the solution.

Digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) experts have a unique yet essential role in maintaining the overall cybersecurity of any organization. They are responsible for gathering data about ongoing attacks or attempts, mitigating their possible effects, and implementing post-attack actions. That includes digging deeper to obtain evidence to enhance their cyber defense as well as aiding in law enforcement efforts.

The fact that attacks are getting stealthier and more sophisticated, though, in terms of tools, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) make DFIR experts’ jobs ever more difficult. They must not only resolve issues in as little time as possible but also be there to prevent successful attacks from causing irreparable damage to systems or their companies’ reputations.

Timely detection is, therefore, the answer. Then again, DFIR experts get bombarded by numerous notifications from security tools every day and thus can get easily overwhelmed by false positives. So they need solutions that can help them quickly verify the validity and quality of domains, IP addresses, and email addresses that their users come in contact with. Domain search solutions such as WHOIS Lookup and its API version WHOIS API may just be what they are looking for. Let’s discuss the reasons why.

About 90% of the time people spend on their mobile devices is app use. And with almost half of the world’s 7.7 billion population using their phones and tablets every day, the app development market is indeed a financially rewarding sector. In fact, experts predict the overall market’s revenue to reach $407 billion by 2026.

But like any other booming market, the app development sector has several hurdles to overcome. What immediately comes to mind is the challenge of creating an app with minimal bugs and glitches. Then, there is also the issue of marketability. How do you make sure it gets downloaded and used by the people you created them for?

A WHOIS data lookup API may be able to help. We specifically explored four app development challenges where WHOIS API can make a difference.

The Internet real estate market is growing at an unprecedented rate and so is the demand for premium domains. That’s a good thing for domainers though, which also means there is a need to be creative and efficient in securing the most sought after domains to invest in. There are different tools that can help with this purpose, but a Bulk WHOIS API, in particular, can turn out invaluable to streamline domain bulk searches.

Not everyone is truly aware of the ramifications of buying a domain. There are many factors to consider in order to make a good purchase and later avoid undesirable connections to, say, malicious individuals and their networks. So, how could a domain name be dangerous, after all? Those in the cybersecurity industry know that cyber attackers can weaponize a domain name for use against organizations and networks.

This article aims to shed light on why domain buyers, such as those without cybersecurity or marketing know-how, should conduct some research on domains of interest with the help of tools such as WHOIS Lookup, Domain Availability API or Domain Research Suite.

In a technologically-forward world we live in today, cybercriminals are employing more sophisticated attacks to compromise domains. In the latest report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), email frauds such as business email compromise (BEC) scams via spoofed domains have caused users $26 billion in losses.

For this reason, domain name security is now more important than ever. You can never be sure who is getting to you except when you take the time to get to know them. And that is possible with the use of domain name tools like WHOIS API.

To propagate cyberattacks, threat actors use domain generating algorithm (DGA) as an evasion tactic. This algorithm, executed through various subroutines, involves switching or dropping thousands of domains in seconds.

The relative ease with which cybercriminals can purchase domains in bulk makes it possible for them to accomplish DGA-enabled attacks. Dirt-cheap prices and lack of identity verification enable hackers to own domains while also staying anonymous.

In fact, registrars typically offer privacy protection services at a small cost or for free, which nefarious actors may take advantage of to conceal their location and details. Additionally, the introduction of the Temporary Specification for Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) data has led to masking or redacting WHOIS data, which, of course, benefits not just those who wish to protect their privacy, but also those with malicious intent.