Both the burgeoning use of the Internet and the growing incidence of cybercrime call for insightful information on IP addresses that may be involved in malicious activities. As part of its mandate to maintain Web integrity, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) coordinates the global assignment of IP addresses and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs).

IANA specifically works with the regional Internet registry (RIR) Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) to maintain a database of IP addresses for Europe, West Asia, and the former Soviet Union. And so, anyone who wishes to find more information about an IP address from this region must do a RIPE NCC IP lookup.

The RIPE NCC IP WHOIS Database

RIPE NCC and its resource holders share confidential information. Some of these sensitive details are made available to the public through the RIPE Network Management Database. This repository contains the IP addresses and their corresponding registration details and ASNs. It also contains information about the individuals or organizations that own the IP addresses, along with their contact details. These entities are responsible for updating their details in the database. Performing a RIPE NCC IP lookup provides users with the following data:

• IP address allocation and assignment
• ASN assignment
• Reverse Domain Name System (DNS) registration details
• Contact details
• Routing policy details

Searching the RIPE NCC database can be done via:

• An online search tool
• A command-line query
• A free-text search

IP Address Lookup Challenges

Although the process seems rather simple, you need to note that RIPE NCC manages more than 16 million IP addresses. As such, anyone who performs a RIPE NCC IP lookup needs to sift through millions of IP addresses to find the information they are looking for. That is, of course, a tedious job that would take up valuable time that could otherwise be used for other purposes. As such, it is a good idea to ensure that the IP lookup database you will use is well-parsed and well-structured. That would make information gathering quicker.

Another challenge arises if the IP netblocks WHOIS database you’re using is not comprehensive. Some repositories may not contain exhaustive information about IP address ranges or may not have been updated for quite some time. That would result in inaccuracies.

IP Netblocks WHOIS Database Uses

Our IP Netblocks WHOIS Database is exhaustive and regularly updated so it can help users with tasks such as:

• Identifying the netblock that an IP address belongs to: This function is crucial for those conducting cyber investigations. With a particular IP address, they can quickly find all other connected IP addresses within the same netblock. That is a great countermeasure against computer worms, for instance, which spread across an entire network of connected computers. Avoiding access to all connected IP addresses within a netblock would thus keep them safe from the said worm.
• Getting web traffic insights: By collecting customers’ IP addresses from website visitor logs and comparing them with IP netblocks, you can get a better sense of your traffic’s structure. For instance, you may notice that a lot of visitors/users pertain to the same netblock, possibly indicating an emerging group of interest to focus on as part of your marketing campaign.
• Streamlining whitelisting configurations: Since large enterprises typically own IP netblocks, it would be easier for your IT security team if they could whitelist an entire IP block that belongs to a trusted partner or service provider rather than processing one IP address at a time. That would also help them avoid accidentally blocking the access of individual systems from the third-party’s network.

How to Do a RIPE NCC IP Lookup Using IP Netblocks WHOIS Database

If you are looking for an IP address from Europe, West Asia, and the former USSR, we outlined the steps for doing a RIPE NCC IP lookup using IP Netblocks WHOIS Database. To access the database, sign up for an account at https://www.whoisxmlapi.com/. Once done, you can download the database in two ways:

Via File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

• Host: datafeeds.whoisxmlapi.com
• Port: 21210
• Username: 'user'
• Password: This is the same as your API Key, which you can get from the My Products page.

Via HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)

• Base path: https://ip-netblocks-whois-database.whoisxmlapi.com/datafeeds
• Username and password: This is the same as your API Key, which you can get from the My Products page.

Let’s say you want to search for all the available IP netblocks owned by A3 Sverige, an Internet service provider (ISP) in Sweden, which you want to target for your marketing campaigns. You just need to type A3 Sverige after pressing Ctrl+F on your keyboard and all matching entries will be highlighted in the database.

Note that the IP Netblocks WHOIS Database receives incremental data from major registries daily at 02:00 PST, and the file storage time indicated is three months after the date of creation.

The database that you download contains a joint dataset that underwent processing to make sure it contains unified and parsed data. The output is available in JSON or CSV format to make it easier to process whatever system you use.

Due to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules set by the European Union, roughly 20% of the records have partially altered contact details.

Whatever reason you may have for doing a RIPE NCC lP lookup, the otherwise daunting task can be made more manageable by using our exhaustive IP netblocks WHOIS database that contains well-parsed and well-structured, not to mention regularly updated, information. With our IP Netblocks WHOIS Database, you don’t have to spend long hours poring through millions of IP addresses, possibly without nothing to show for it in the end.