WHOIS GUARD : Is It Really Required
Privacy and Security go hand in hand whether it is life over paper or life over Internet.
It is considered that the more private you are the more secure you can be.
Talking about privacy it takes me to talk about GDPR and you can see how GDPR has affected WHOIS in this same post but that is on a later part.
So talking about privacy and security, all our lives in present time have been dependent on the internet. All our social and commercial activities are possible and taking place on the Internet.
So privacy over the Internet is a crucial part of our lives.
As you know whenever you will purchase a Domain name over the Internet your Domain Registrars will have to attach your name with that Domain so that it becomes a legit property or asset over the Internet.
So certainly not all Domains are used for legal and good purposes. So there is a Database maintained by all legit Domain Registrars that keeps records of these Domains and their owners related information.
What is WHOIS ?
As per ICANN WHOIS is not an Acronym. But rather it is a system or rather as per Wikipedia WHOIS is a Query and Response protocol. WHOIS is used to make Domain related queries from Databases that are managed by various Domain registrars.
All legal Domain Registrars have the system to show WHOIS records. So that if any Domain related information is needed anyone can just type that Domain or IP address and it will show that who really owns the Domain name and other details are also shown.
What is WhoisGuard ?
So basically WHOISGAURD is something that protects your private data to be shown through these public data bases.
Basically there is nothing wrong if the Databases like WHOIS show that the particular Domain belongs to you legally. But as we know any Public Information can be misused easily by Cyber Criminals.
So to stop the misuse of the Domain related information there is a system built that is called WHOISGAURD. (self learnt statement) 🙂
About WHOISGAURD I used to thought that it is a concept made up by Domain Registrars and other Authorities. So that due to WhoisGuard they can charge extra money on the name of privacy protection. But there are Registrars which give WHOISGAURD and other domain protection features for free along with the Domain. So that got me some confidence in this system on a personal level.
WHOISGUARD Features :
Now let’s see what protection you can expect when you have a WHOISGAURD enabled with your Domain. As per Namecheap (affiliate link) plans you get free WHOISGAURD along with the Domain name and you get protections as follows :
1) Contact Info Shield :
Due to WHOIS any one can see your personal data publicly. So Cyber Criminals and others like Spammers can use this personal data for their illegal activities.
So with Contact Info Shield your data is not shown publicly. But instead of that WHOISGAURD contact info is shown publicly so your private data is secured.
2) Spam Killer :
WHOISGAURD replaces your Email with the other unique Email address. All the Emails sent to your E mail address is firstly filtered with WHOISGAURD unique Email. Then only forwarded to your particular Email.
3) Domain Hijacking is also prevented when you are using WHOISGAURD.
4) The best thing with Namecheap (Affiliate link) WHOISGAURD is that it is free forever.
GPDR effect on WHOIS and WHOIS Guard :
As we know WHOIS shows you the personal info attached with the Domains. So as per GDPR it by default becomes difficult to show personal information on the internet. So the WHOIS system itself have to make sure that they are not showing personally identifying info.
This is how after GDPR you get an extra layer of security by default. So you don’t need WHOIS GUARD for that. Obviously with WHOISGAURD you get more technical security like Spam Killing but GDPR also adds extra security.
But now according to Panda Research article there is also an obvious possibility of misusing this GDPR rule. Because it can be rather more easy for Cyber Criminals to make fake Domain identities. Eventually due to GDPR it will become more difficult to stop certain Domain related misuses for Cyber Security Authorities also.
Conclusion :
So all in all WHOISGAURD is needed or not ?
Of course WHOISGUARD is needed and if it is free then why not use it. It is better to use it because Domain Registrars like Namecheap (Full Review) give free WHOISGAURD service along with their Domains. So why not take it !!
How to further protect your Domain related information ?
- Use stronger Password.
- Turn on 2FA (Two Factor Authentication).
- Get a good reliable Domain Registrar.
Bonus tip :
Since now you know that Namecheap (affiliate link) give free WHOISGAURD with their Domains. Then why not purchase Domains from Namecheap (Full Review) and for Hosting you can select a better host anytime whenever you need.
You can search for Hosting related things on Quick Advice page where you can find the best Hosting plans as per your needs.
Getting a Domain from a different Registrar is beneficial because Hostings generally give Domains for free for a year but after renewal it costs more than normal.
And after application of GDPR you can get basic level privacy protection with all registrars thanks to rules like GDPR.
GoDaddy Domains (affiliate link) can prove to be the cheapest among all and selecting Domains and Hosting from different providers can save some amount of money.
Cheapest Hosting can be HostGator (Full Review) and MilesWeb (Full Review). To see more web hosts see the Quick Advice page.
I hope you like this short article on WhoisGuard. Hopefully it will be helpful.
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