whois is a database that keeps a record of the registry information of all registered domains. The following is a brief list of some information types that are usually stored for public records:
- Registrant contact information
- Administrative contact information
- Technical contact information
- Nameservers
- Important dates, such as registration, update, and expiration dates
- Registry domain ID
- Registrar information
Accessing a whois database is quite simple: you can use the Google search engine to find various databases. Some whois websites include www.whois.net, whois.domaintools.com, who.is, and www.whois.com. However, Kali Linux contains a built-in whois tool. To perform a whois lookup on a domain, implement the following steps:
- Open the Terminal and use the whois <domain-name> syntax, as shown in the following screenshot:
- The output is presented on the Terminal for the domain. The information that's obtained can be leveraged by a penetration tester for various types of attacks on a target organization.
In the next section, you will learn how to use HTTrack to copy a website locally.