WhoisXML API Blog

It’s Time to Upgrade: Is Your Security Solution Ready for PCI DSS v4.0?

For organizations handling cardholder data, security is a constant battle, with cybercriminals devising new tactics and exploits to steal sensitive information left and right. That is why the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) has been crucial as the gold standard for safeguarding payment-related data. And just as threats evolve, so too must the standards protecting financial information.

Recognizing this need, the PCI Security Standards Council introduced PCI DSS v4.0, effectively retiring PCI DSS v3.2.1 on 31 March 2024. Let’s explore what this new version brings to the table and how it can help organizations better protect cardholder data.

Our Full Premium DNS Database Peaks at 116 Billion Records in Q2 2024

We’re thrilled to announce a significant upgrade to one of our market-leading services, Premium DNS Database Download. We’re expanding the coverage of our full database files from 90 to 365 days, giving users access to as many as 116 billion historical DNS records as of Q2 2024.

The Real Dangers NSFW Websites Pose, It’s Not Just about Productivity

Do you ever wonder why many organizations block employee access to not-safe-for-work (NSFW) websites?

Content filtering, the process of blocking access to NSFW websites, has long been believed to be just about improving employee productivity. And that’s not surprising since a survey indicated that 58% of employees spend at least four hours a week or 26 workdays a year on websites unrelated to their job.

Unraveling the World of Security Data Aggregation

More than 30.6 billion records have been exposed in 2024 so far based on 8,839 publicly disclosed incidents. Intensifying cybersecurity efforts has thus become more critical than ever for organizations the world over. But that requires having the whole picture on hand, and that’s only possible if users can take a closer look inside and outside their networks.

More often than not, painting the complete threat picture is an impossible feat to take on independently. Collecting, sifting through, and making sense of the massive data pool that effective cybersecurity requires is just too tedious even for an entire security team. They need the help of security data providers and a means to piece all the information they provide together to turn it into actionable intelligence. Enter security data aggregation.

WhoisXML API Earns a Spot on the Financial Times Top Fastest-Growing Companies 2024

We are proud to announce that WhoisXML API secured a position on the Financial Times esteemed list of The Americas’ Fastest-Growing Companies 2024.

The annual list is compiled by Financial Times in collaboration with Statista. In 2024, it ranked the top 500 companies in the Americas with the strongest growth in revenue between 2019 and 2022. WhoisXML API secured a spot on this list for three years in a row, climbing from 494th in 2022 to 436th in 2023 and 359th in 2024.

April 2024: Domain Activity Highlights

WhoisXML API researchers analyzed more than 6.6 million domains registered between 1 and 30 April 2024 to identify the most popular registrars, top-level domain (TLD) extensions, and  other global domain registration trends.

We also studied the top TLDs and associated threat type breakdown of more than 1.1 million domains detected as indicators of compromise (IoCs) in April.

Finally, we summarized the findings and provided links to the threat reports produced during the period with the aid of DNS, IP, and domain intelligence sources.

WhoisXML API Historical WHOIS Intelligence Now Covers 20+ Billion Records

We are thrilled to announce that our historical WHOIS database now contains more than 20 billion WHOIS records. This continuous repository expansion plays an important role in strengthening and deepening cybersecurity investigations, digital risk protection, and attacker footprinting, among other use cases.

WhoisXML API has been actively upgrading its WHOIS history product coverage for more than 14 years now of WHOIS data collection, aggregation, and processing. In recent years, we have had several notable repository expansions. From 13.7+ historical WHOIS records in Q1 2022, our coverage rose to 15.6 billion in Q1 2023. This year, we saw an estimated 28% increase, with our historical WHOIS data now spanning more than 20 billion records.

Navigating Today’s OSINT Ecosystem Effectively

Organizations of all types have long been relying on open-source intelligence (OSINT) for various business purposes, most notably cybersecurity. There’s a growing need for it. In fact, experts predict that the worldwide OSINT market revenue will reach US$38.07 billion by 2028 from US$12.2 billion in 2023. And that’s not surprising given that 75% of security professionals have seen the volume of cyber attacks rise in the past year alone.

But the OSINT ecosystem is vast, comprising hundreds if not thousands of disparate types, sources, tools, and techniques. Navigating it can be a challenge. Organizations not only need to know what information to gather but also which vendor to tap and how to piece all the details together to come up with concrete cybersecurity measures.