What is WHOIS?

When you register a domain name, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires your domain name registrar to submit your personal contact information to the WHOIS database. Once your listing appears in this online directory, it is publicly available to anyone who chooses to check domain names using the WHOIS search tool.

There are a variety of reasons people may check domain names in the WHOIS database. Individuals may be checking domain names for expiration dates or for contact info to make an offer on the domain. Registrars search for contact information when transferring ownership. Authorities may check domain names when investigating criminal activity.

Digital Exploits must comply with the WHOIS database requirements set forth by ICANN. However, in an effort to ensure that customers feel comfortable with the visibility of their personal information, we offer a couple of options for your WHOIS database listing.

Public WHOIS Database Listing

If you're comfortable with having your information available to the public — and don't want the extra fee associated with private domain registration — Digital Exploits will submit a public listing to the WHOIS database. This listing will include your name, address, phone number, email address and domain name expiration date. Your website hosting IP address and host name will also be listed.

Private WHOIS Database Listing

Having your personal information made available to the public will increase your risk of becoming a victim of hackers, spammers and even data miners. To keep your contact information out of the hands of those who may use it maliciously, Digital Exploits offers private domain name registration. For a small annual fee, we'll mask your identity so that anyone who does a WHOIS lookup for your domain name information will find it marked private instead of your personal contact info. Learn more about ID Protect.