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How MSSPs Can Enhance Network Resilience with the Help of Domain Name History Records

Threat management has grown increasingly complex for most organizations — with more endpoints to secure, new compliance pressures to face, and advanced persistent threats (APTs) to monitor. As a result, several organizations have opted to modify their approach to network security by enlisting the help of managed security service providers (MSSPs).

MSSPs combine different approaches to enhance network reliability, ranging from unified threat management (UTM) to threat intelligence analysis. The majority also implement business continuity (BC) solutions, which are especially crucial in the wake of recent global cyberattacks. To facilitate their programs, they incorporate various tools into their security systems, including traditional firewalls, traffic logs, cyber forensic solutions, and threat data feeds.

The tools that MSSPs use to improve clients’ security posture, however, won’t work without reliable sources of threat intelligence. And that’s where domain information comes in. MSSPs can obtain more insights and data to correlate with internal logs from solutions such as WHOIS History API.

Threat Prediction Based on Domain Registration History

There is a tendency to look at the past to anticipate what the future may hold. The historical performance of financial investment products, for example, is always showcased, although with a disclaimer that they don't guarantee any future results. Athletes watch past performance of their would-be opponents, so they know what strategies to formulate for the future encounters.

This train of thought is also applicable, at least to some extent, to the field of cybersecurity. Knowing more about past attacks can help security teams strategize and improve their current and future cybersecurity posture.

To illustrate this point, let’s take a look at how investigating domain registration history through the use of WHOIS History API can help managed detection and response (MDR) teams to anticipate further threats.

Introducing Command-line Real-time & Historic WHOIS Tool

We are really excited to announce that we are now offering our hallmark Whois via a command-line utility, “bestwhois”. This tool can be a great alternative to the standard “whois” command for domain and IP WHOIS queries, as there are no search restrictions and the queries are made through the API service provided by WhoisXML API.

Most suitable for UNIX power users and other command-line enthusiasts, bestwhois, is a cross-platform utility that works on Microsoft, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X or any other platform with Python. It is command-line front-end to WhoisXML API; WHOIS API and WHOIS History API. All the queries initiated from your end are processed through these APIs, and the output is similar to that of the original “whois” command.

The data which were available for developers via the APIs are now readily at the hands of system administrators, threat investigators, analysts, marketing experts, and all other power users who potentially prefer using command-line tools or are used to the original “whois” command. They can now uncover domain profile data worldwide for over 5 billion historic Whois records, 300 million domain names and over 2850 gTLDs (including .com, .org, .net, .biz and more) and ccTLDs (including .uk, .us, .ru and more). Access key data points for domains including who registered it along with their contact information, the registrar, expiry dates, last update date, who to contact about the domain name & much more.

Enriching Domain Protection Through Historic and Reverse WHOIS Data Monitoring

The foundation of a domain’s existence on the Web is its credibility. It must be secured at all costs because it’s constantly under threat from malicious elements that are out there staging. As such, domain protection is an indispensable component of overall cybersecurity efforts because not just business viability but a domain’s very own survival is at stake.

A company can protect its domain in different ways. For one, it can initiate its own in-house solution which would require substantial expertise and investment to put in place. Another option is to delegate the responsibility to experienced specialists dedicated to providing brand and digital protection services.

As part of their services, such companies track and analyze potentially dangerous domains that use the keywords associated with their clients’ organizations or brands. However, such a monitoring function requires unimpeded access to the available data on both recent and historic domain registrations. It may sound easy for some, but not all companies providing domain protection services have that capability. Let’s take a closer look.

Research Any Domain’s History with WHOIS History API!

With thousands of new domain names registered every day, billions and billions have been registered over the years. And these have undergone multiple ownerships or even registration changes over time. These could be modifications to the domain’s registrar or associated name servers or even changes in contact details, to name just a few.

Aging domains have a history and we at WhoisXML API can help you delve deeper to understand a given domain’s past with WHOIS History API. Professionals conducting research for cybersecurity or investment purposes can hugely benefit from uncovering a domain’s lifecycle to find out if it has ever had a checkered past or draw connections that may not be easy to see at the surface level.