Domain name monitoring by registrant (“Registrant Alert”)

Domain name monitoring by owner allows you to be alerted when a domain name has been registered by a given owner. It is used for competitive intelligence, “Shadow It” detection and even domain name cybersquatting.

A domain name is purchased from a registrar. When you reserve a domain name with a registrar (e.g. Gandi, GoDaddy or OVH), you enter information about the owner of the domain name.

“Whois” of a domain name

This information is listed in the domain name’s “whois”. These whois databases can be consulted when searching for the availability of a domain name.
Afnic, the French domain name registry, provides information on the owner of a .FR domain name.

Warning! Since the 2018 implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), some personal data is inaccessible. As a result, domain name “whois” are less complete, and sometimes even empty.

However, “whois” information on the holder of a domain name was not always available before the RGPD. Indeed, name registrars had been offering private “whois” for years. Thus, the contact details of their customers who pay for this option, are hidden.

Why monitor domain names purchased by a registrant?

Even if whois are now less exhaustive, it can still be useful to set up a domain name watch by holder. This service, known as “Registrant Alert”, can be set up after a search of domain names by holder.

This search of domain names by owner is called “Reverse Whois”.
A “Reverse Whois” audit of domain names belonging to an identified owner is complementary to a surveillance.

Solidnames offers domain name monitoring by registrant (“Registrant Alert”). This watch detects registrations made by an identified registrant.

Domain name monitoring by holder identifies your competitors’ registrations

Monitoring domain names by owner has a number of advantages. For example, you’ll know the domain names of your competitors! This is strategic information for competitive intelligence.

The Solidnames user of domain name monitoring by owner is thus alerted to new registrations by competitors.

For example, you discover that your competitor is registering a large number of domain names in a particular country extension (ccTLD). This is an indication of a probable new presence in that country.

Is your competitor registering numerous domain names with a new name? You’re probably planning a new brand for an upcoming product or service.

Registering a domain name before a product launch gives competitors an indication of upcoming product and service releases. Video game enthusiasts know this well. They scrutinize the registrations made by video game publishers to guess the next releases.
We see the same phenomenon among fans of films or series who assiduously follow the domain names acquired by production companies.

Domain name monitoring by registrant (“Registrant Alert”)

Detecting “Shadow It” domain names

There are also domain name registrations known as “Shadow It”.

This anglicism refers to the purchase of a domain name not by a company’s parent company, but by an entity close to its environment.

For example, the domain name may be created by a local distributor. In international groups, subsidiaries often register domain names without referring to head office.

Domain name monitoring by “registrant” will detect this type of internal filing (“Shadow IT”) without approval.

Monitoring domain name cybersquatting

Trademark monitoring of Internet domain names should be enough to alert you to cybersquatting. However, monitoring domain names by holder can complement this trademark watch.

Some cybersquatters are not afraid of a good scam. When fraudulently registering a domain name, they don’t hesitate to indicate the name of the company under attack in the “whois”. In other words, they usurp the company’s identity by indicating it in the “whois”.

Remember that the “whois” information declared when purchasing a domain name is subject to little or no control by the registrar.

In October 2019, the Auchan retail chain won an out-of-court UDRP case for identity theft. The fraudulent domain name “whois” contained the contact details of Auchan’s purchasing department manager. The disputed domain name associated the brand name with purchases. Misleading e-mails attempted to attract potential suppliers with the aim of scamming them. The World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO) enabled Auchan to recover the cybersquatted domain name.

Monitoring domain names by owner therefore also makes it possible to identify attempts at identity theft directly in the domain name whois on the company’s own name.