About whois lookup
WHOIS shows the registration details of a domain: when it was registered, when it expires, which registrar manages it and its name servers.
Privacy
- Many registrars hide owner details behind a privacy service.
- Data protection rules mean personal details are often redacted.
Use it for
Checking when a domain expires, researching a suspicious site's age, or finding out which registrar to contact.
A worked example
A lookup of an old domain might show a creation date 12 years ago, an expiry date next March, a registrar name and name servers. A phishing site is often only a few days old, so a very recent registration is one warning sign among others.
Reading the result
- Status codes such as clientTransferProhibited protect against theft.
- Redacted fields are normal, because of privacy rules.
- Use the registrar's abuse contact to report misuse.
Domain age and trust
An old domain is not automatically trustworthy, and a new one is not automatically bad, but age is a useful clue when you judge a site that asks for money or personal details.
