WhoisXML API Blog

Strengthening Email Security Solutions & Validation Programs with a Disposable Emails Database

Email validation has become a necessity for organizations that aim to protect themselves against cybersecurity threats. The process becomes all the more relevant as 65% of attackers use phishing as a primary infection vector. That’s not a surprise, since attackers have long been weaponizing emails to serve as entry points for cyberattacks.

The ease with which threat actors can create disposable email addresses also contributes to the threat. In less than a minute, they can create a temporary email address with tons of providers, which they then use to send malware-laden and phishing messages to target victims. For this reason, a disposable email domain database can make email security vendors and email validation programs in general more robust and comprehensive. Let us elaborate on that.

WHOIS Lookups & Enterprise Cybersecurity Policies: A Secure Way to Search for Domain Names

These days, it’s unwise to assume that all websites are safe to access. For this reason, security teams typically advise employees against clicking on any links embedded in an email, especially from an unknown sender. This recommendation may even extend to suspicious search results that appear in search engines.

What’s more, for most companies, visiting websites that are not related to an employee’s work is a violation of established cybersecurity policies and procedures. Most cybersecurity policies include:

• Standard steps for accessing work data and applications remotely
• Rules for encrypting emails
• Instructions on creating and managing passwords
• Rules on using social media
• Guidelines for accessing nonwork-related websites

While this last policy may sound extreme to some, it has become common practice, especially among companies that want to beef up their cybersecurity posture. Their stance is ‘Prevention is better than cure’. And keeping employees from visiting potentially dangerous websites is always safer and more cost-effective than dealing with a ransomware attack or data breach.

Given this policy, though, how can one search for domain names that might help the business gain more customers? In parallel, how can security operation centers (SOCs) investigate suspicious online activities with domain names possibly involved in an attempt or attack? Thankfully, tools such as WHOIS Lookup enable SOCs and businesses in general to do extensive research without violating the cybersecurity policies mentioned above.

IP2Location vs. WhoisXML API vs. IPify: 3 Best IP Geolocation Services Compared

IP geolocation is an important source of intelligence with benefits in cybersecurity and marketing. Its use cases include cybercrime prevention, fraud detection, website traffic generation, and many others. Thus, it isn’t surprising to find out that a web search for the keyword “ip geolocation” would return millions of results, many of which include the service pages of some of the best IP geolocation / IP-to-location providers.

Yet with many options available, how would you know which one to choose? We did a comprehensive review of three IP geolocation vendors to answer this question.

How to Take a Screenshot of a Website Page without Visiting the URL

Humans are visual-oriented creatures. With a highly developed visual cortex, our minds are equipped to process visual elements better than any other form of information. For this very reason, we tend to prefer to interact through visual media. That has led to the use and sharing of visual content found on the Internet, which in turn leads to the question of how to take a screenshot of a website page.

In this pro-visual scene, website screenshots have emerged as a prime currency of communication. Whether used in how-to tutorials, web design, or even cybersecurity, the ubiquitous screenshot has propelled itself to a top position in the online ecosystem. Screenshots are also found in more and more business processes. With this in mind, let’s consider a few alternatives for automatic screenshot capture.

Find Out More About an IP Address via WHOIS Lookup and WHOIS API

IP addresses are unique identifiers for devices hooked to the internet. These addresses, which are represented by numerical values, allow computers to communicate over the Transmission Control Protocol via IP (TCP/IP). The protocol routes users looking for Internet-connected hosts or websites to the right destinations using IP addresses as a reference. 

However, notably because of inherent design flaws, attackers can spoof IP addresses with the intention of, for example, misdirecting users to dangerous sites. For this reason, among others, it is critical to routinely scan IP addresses passing your network filters to ensure their integrity and identify any potential links to malicious campaigns or networks. 

As part of this process, it is possible to do an IP lookup via WHOIS Lookup and WHOIS API to extract the ownership details of a given address for further inspection. What’s more, both products permit gathering all sorts of relevant details such as if an IP address hosts a domain and which regional Internet registry (RIR) manages the resource.

ProPrivacy Open Data Project: Mapping Malicious Coronavirus Domains Using WHOIS Data

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven many people to do almost everything within the confines of their homes. Nearly exclusive reliance on digital means to work, study, shop, and communicate amid uncertainty opened many avenues for cybercrime to take place—notably through the use of coronavirus-related domain names.

To demonstrate this trend, ProPrivacy has partnered with WhoisXML API and VirusTotal to investigate the extent to which cybercriminals are weaponizing the Domain Name System (DNS) in an open data project called “COVID-19 Malicious Domain Research Hub.”

Relieving Network Concentration Risks Aided by IP Netblocks Lookup

It is normal for large enterprises, especially multinational corporations (MNCs), to maintain an IP netblock or several IP ranges for their website hosting requirements. This approach allows them to quickly set up sites as the need arises. There might be problems, though, when a company relies on a single service provider. Any operational disruption on the provider’s part means a halt to its business as well.

This post tackles the challenges that relying on a single web host brings and how access to an IP Netblocks WHOIS database may help alleviate them. In case you are not fully familiar with the notion of netblocks, check this post for an introduction to the subject.

Detect Possible Domain Spoofing and Homograph Attacks with Typosquatting Data Feed

Charles Caleb Colton once said that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. This proverbial expression finds its origins in the 19th century and other historical writings before that. What likely wasn’t foreseen at the time, however, was that certain forms of imitation in the 21st century could give organizations terrible headaches. We are talking about domain spoofing and homograph attacks.

Imitators in our contemporary context can register one or several domain names highly similar to that of an established brand and use these to deceive people and trick them into sharing sensitive information or even transfering funds to fraudulent bank accounts.

Registering copycat domain names of known brands and organizations isn’t the only way to fool victims, though. At the height of coronavirus-themed attacks, the Typosquatting Data Feed proved useful in spotting potentially dangerous footprints containing thousands of domain names with word strings such as “covid” and “coronavirus” combined with “mask,” “vaccine,” “donation,” “lawsuit,” and plenty of others.

In this post, we put the feed’s capabilities to the test to detect spoofed domain names, including Punycode domains, that could be used to abuse employees, customers, and other parties who regularly interact with Lloyds Bank and Apple. We will also show how other sources of intelligence can help learn more about possible impersonators and the infrastructure they use.