WhoisXML API Blog

IP Geolocation Finds Hacker Origins of Attack

Cyber attacks and data breaches make the news on a regular basis. However, with over 50% of U.S. businesses experiencing some form of cyberattack in 2017 alone, the scale of the problem is much larger than the fraction reported by the media. Organizations of all sizes and in every industry are under constant attack, but who is behind these cyber assaults and where are the perpetrators located?

It is essential to understand the origin of a cyber attack and to find who is responsible for it. Not only can this evidence help bring cybercriminals to justice, but it also assists defenders with the information they need to prevent similar incidents from reoccurring.

WHOIS History Lookup: 6 Illustrative Use Cases

Today's lesson is about history.

Specifically, about WHOIS History Lookup and WHOIS History API.

Both are tools for tracking historical WHOIS records of domain names to find out how their ownership has changed over time. We've been doing it for more than 10 years and have compiled more than 300 million active domain names, 1 billion history domain names, and 5 billion historical WHOIS records in our database.

Everything is available to our users.

Get Access to Premium Research Tools & Unrivaled Data with Enterprise Tools Package

Government agencies, large-scale enterprises, SMBs & many other businesses investigating cyber crime, detecting & accessing threats, tracking down malicious entities or monitoring a bad actor’s infrastructure to predict a future attack, need various kinds of Internet data sets to help them in characterizing & connecting domains. Also, with the rise in security breaches, professionals are no longer looking for just raw data, but Intel, to take timely action against the surfacing bad actors. Whois API, Inc. has been working with many such senior security professionals since the past decade and creating suitable data products & solutions which can act as building blocks in their toolkit for domain research & investigation. With the plethora of solutions we offer, data planning can sometimes become a task in itself & to that effect, we are now providing our users with Enterprise Packages. These are designed specifically keeping such large-scale agencies in mind, to help provide predictability to their data planning, along with, a comprehensive investigation pathway. Our latest Enterprise level solution, Enterprise Tools Package, provides our users with accessible domain Intel, in an easier & visual format.

Domain Research Suite Monitors New Product Development

The last twenty years have seen the rise of two business developments among others: consumer product development cycle times have decreased and the number of new products companies bring to market in a year have increased. A “flatter” world has also increased global competition in marketplaces that regional players had historically dominated.

Keeping up with the competition is no longer an option. Industry analysts and marketing professionals now need every tool that technology has to offer to stay ahead of the pack. One of the richest resources for anticipating when and what brands will be rolling out is the Whatis database.

5 Powerful Use Cases of Domain Research and Monitoring Tools

In today’s business landscape, it is almost impossible to be successful without setting up an online presence. What’s more, if you are launching a company or product, thinking about which domain name to use is a priority. In fact, it cannot be randomly picked as you must deeply connect with your target audience. But the domain registration market is highly dynamic, and it is advisable to secure domains of interest before someone else does. How can you do that?

Approaching Security Awareness the Smart Way with Threat Intelligence

While digitalization has brought many benefits like faster and easier communication, there are also disadvantages that businesses must be ready to face as a side effect — most notably, cybersecurity threats. Whois API Inc. CEO founder Jonathan Zhang has recently appeared as a guest expert on The Security Awareness Company’s website discussing that tension and the synergies existing between threat intelligence and security awareness. Some of the main points covered are summarized below.

Domain Histories Reveal Bad Actors

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) places the responsibility for data privacy on organizations and their Boards of Directors. In the event of a data breach, GDPR may fine organizations up to $24 million or 4 percent of its global revenues in the previous year. It’s important to note, however, that GDPR doesn’t only affect Europe-based companies.

Tracking Domains for Cyber Self-Defense

In 2008, hackers hijacked CheckFree.com, which provided online bill payment services and redirected traffic to a website in Ukraine. The fake CheckFree website downloaded malware on CheckFree customers' computers. The malware stole usernames and passwords. Even worse, it infected the computers of customers of minor banks that had partnered with CheckFree. The banks’ websites had been directing their users to CheckFree.

Neither CheckFree nor the banks had been monitoring changes in the WHOIS registries of their websites. If they had, they would have seen the redirection hackers had placed in domain records.