The world of domains is both the playground and workshop of digital professionals. It is where websites live – the good, the bad, the pretty, the ugly ones – and it covers an extensive reach when tapped as a possible resource.

To date, there are more than 330 million registered domains supporting 1.8 billion websites worldwide. Imagine the wealth of information they contain. The good news is that it’s possible to access the insights behind them through WHOIS databases.

In fact, online businesses can integrate WHOIS data into their daily operations for a variety of purposes. Let’s talk about them in more detail.

Detect Phishing

Having sensitive information stolen is a nightmare many organizations experience. These so-called phishing activities can affect a company at different levels. For one, they can compromise organizational IT infrastructure and damage business operations. For another, they can cause financial losses and victimize customers — with the effect of harming a company’s reputation.

Turning to a WHOIS database before touching any part of a suspicious email or website can be a wise course of action to avoid phishing attempts. For instance, checking URLs provides users with relevant contact details, websites’ registration, or expiration dates that can lead to important clues. Why would the domain of a well-established company be only 3 days old? Is the website owner potentially associated with malicious activities?

Combat Cybercrime

Сybercrime continues to be on the rise, with damages projected to hit trillions. And unfortunately, these online incidents don’t exempt any type of business. Big companies are attractive targets because of their valuation, while small- and medium-sized ones tend to be especially vulnerable for lacking resources to defend themselves.

Looking into domain data can assist in the prevention and resolution of cybercrimes — including leveraging perpetrators’ contact details as stated in historical records and reporting them to authorities. It is also possible to monitor questionable registrants and domain changes and discover crime patterns by connecting known malicious entities with suspicious websites.

Conduct Cybersecurity Research

Digital companies conduct cybersecurity research for different matters. Some use it to establish strong internal security systems. Others specialize in creating cybersecurity products and aim to offer the right solutions at a profit.

Whatever the intent, studies require large sets of domain records to discover trends and anomalies in particular Internet activities. This is one of the ways WHOIS databases can become instrumental. Indeed, researchers can make queries to mine data and observe dangerous aspects of the online landscape and blacklist malicious URLs, IPs, and domain names.

Resolve Online Problems

For online organizations, WHOIS database download can be used to resolve gaps in standard procedures. For instance, administrators can refer to WHOIS registrant details to trace back encountered problems and work out content feed interruptions or inaccuracies and misrepresentations. Addressing other online issues such as delivery, brand-related matters, or even online attacks is also possible by referring to WHOIS records and contacting responsible entities such as website owners or registrars.

Review Third-Party Trustworthiness

Companies constantly build partnerships in order to grow, and outsourcing services is common for many organizations. But doing so carefully and ensuring the trustworthiness of third-party stakeholders should always be a priority.

When making background checks on business partners and collaborators, users can trace dates, geolocations, connections, and other details in order to learn if a supplier’s website or its owner has bad records, or if the information provided during presentations or negotiations matches domain record data.

WHOIS information has great potential as a business asset and can unveil interesting insights that can have an impact on companies’ cybersecurity and provide informational support during daily and strategic operations.