Godaddy is already redacting information from their WHOIS records and blocking WHOIS requests. Even more registrars are likely to follow suit in the coming weeks as well since ICANN has yet to...
WHOIS being scrubbed and potentially fragmented is a nightmare for security researchers and cybercrime investigators, which also puts users of the internet at large at greater risk now since malware, phishing, spam and 419 scams will potentially go unchecked until WHOIS records are restored and the system made GDPR compliant. However, even then the GDPR may hamstring WHOIS as a research and investigative tool. :/
It’s also worth mentioning that the author of this article is VP of Security Research at Trend Micro.
Godaddy is already redacting information from their WHOIS records and blocking WHOIS requests. Even more registrars are likely to follow suit in the coming weeks as well since ICANN has yet to come up with a viable solution to making the WHOIS system GDPR compliant and the EU has not granted ICANN's request for a moratorium on registrar prosecution under the GDPR.
WHOIS being scrubbed and potentially fragmented is a nightmare for security researchers and cybercrime investigators, which also puts users of the internet at large at greater risk now since malware, phishing, spam and 419 scams will potentially go unchecked until WHOIS records are restored and the system made GDPR compliant. However, even then the GDPR may hamstring WHOIS as a research and investigative tool. :/
It’s also worth mentioning that the author of this article is VP of Security Research at Trend Micro.