Success stories

EU DisinfoLab, WhoisXML API

EU DisinfoLab Uses Historical WHOIS Data to Cast a Light on Indian Chronicles

EU DisinfoLab is a nonprofit organization that conducts in-depth research and investigations on sophisticated disinformation actors across all platforms. EU DisinfoLab leads several projects in the area of fake media detection and works with other organizations to create fact-checking tools, track infodemic footprints, measure the virality of hoaxes, and investigate disinformation campaigns.

EU DisinfoLab aims to uncover disinformation trends, expose campaigns, and raise awareness surrounding issues relevant to disinformation. All these align with their vision of creating a society where citizens understand informational contexts and are less susceptible to manipulation.

One of EU DisinfoLab’s most successful research projects, the investigation of Indian Chronicles, brought to light a disinformation operation that began in 2006. WhoisXML API’s WHOIS footprints played a role in the completion of this investigation.

GeoGuard, WhoisXML API

GeoGuard and WhoisXML API Partnership: The Dark Side of VPN Use Explored

Virtual private networks (VPNs) were originally designed to let users access their home or work networks remotely. Nowadays, VPNs are also commonly used to hide users’ identities and protect their privacy.

But not all VPN users are privacy protection advocates—some of them may actually have nefarious purposes in mind. A collaborative study between GeoGuard and WhoisXML API entitled “Not All VPN Users Are Worth Trusting, a Lesson for Cloud Service Providers” looked at possible VPN drawbacks more closely.

The research aimed to detect malicious IP addresses in IP blocks associated with VPN usage. The findings could serve as a warning to both cloud users and service providers.

SocialLinks, Jörn Weber, WhoisXML API

DarkNet Market Domain Investigation Webinar with SocialLinks, Jörn Weber and WhoisXML API

To get to the bottom of what’s happening on the Internet, researchers and security investigators need to back their theories with reliable and accurate data. By doing so, they unveil who is responsible for certain cyber events. Such a feat is not always straightforward but is possible with the help of the right tools and data sources.

The Domain Investigation Webinar conducted on 6 August tackled how new WhoisXML API transforms are powering Social Links to address the challenges commonly encountered by forensics investigators. Our very own Sr Director of Business Development Alexander Ronquillo was joined by OSINT expert and Corma managing partner Jörn Weber and SocialLinks project manager Sonya Oronova in this exclusive webinar entitled “How to Find Information Using Domain Records.”

Lonnie Reed

Certified fraud examiner and computer forensic examiner

I tried to create a method of discovering who is behind fraudulent web sites, but was unable to locate domain registration’s raw data to make this viable. You must be able to search every domain registration that uses the same phone number or same address or e-mail address in the domain registration. The consistent and structured data provided by WhoisXML API made it possible to perform such searches. Finally, I managed to group and identify suspected fraudulent web sites.