NetworkingAlso called: "whois lookup", "domain registration"
WHOIS records reveal who owns a domain, when it was registered, and when it expires.
Information available
- Registrant: Domain owner's contact details (often redacted for privacy).
- Registrar: Company that sold the domain.
- Registration/expiration dates: When domain was created and when it renews.
- Nameservers: DNS servers authoritative for the domain.
Investigative uses
- Identify phishing domains by checking creation date.
- Find domain owner for abuse reporting.
- Monitor domain expiration for brand protection.
- Research infrastructure patterns in threat campaigns.
Explore More Networking
View all termsDomain Name System (DNS)
The hierarchical naming system that translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses.
Read more →IP Address Geolocation
The process of determining the geographic location of an internet-connected device using its IP address.
Read more →MAC Address
A unique hardware identifier assigned to network interfaces for local network communication.
Read more →Network Protocol
A set of rules defining how data is transmitted and received over a network.
Read more →OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier)
The first three bytes of a MAC address, assigned by IEEE to identify the manufacturer of a network device.
Read more →Port Numbers
Numerical identifiers (0-65535) used to route network traffic to specific services on a device.
Read more →