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I am not using a VPN or other SSH/tunneling protocol. I would like to encrypt whois queries made via the terminal.

It appears that using whoisin a linux terminal queries over an http connection as the resolver shows with the http protocol specified. Is it possible to send whois queries with encryption without SSH?

Thx
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2 Answers2

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The whois RFC describes the protocol as a TCP connection over port 43 (and not HTTP).

The protocol was originally designed to be a simple way to get information about a domain and there is no notion of encryption. This is not surprising, given it doesn't even consider the privacy implications of transmitting emails as part of the response.

Long story short, there is no way to transmit the information over an encrypted connection. Some registries may provide alternative implementations of the whois protocol over different protocols (such as HTTP), but it's completely up to the registry.

Simone Carletti
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As per the RFC3912, there's no security considerations in the WHOIS protocol description.

  1. Security Considerations

The WHOIS protocol has no provisions for strong security. WHOIS
lacks mechanisms for access control, integrity, and confidentiality.
Accordingly, WHOIS-based services should only be used for information which is non-sensitive and intended to be accessible to everyone.

Also, the referenced link provides an example on how the protocol works. As you might see, it's very, very simple and insinuate it has been designed for its purpose without additional complexity.

   client                           server at whois.nic.mil

open TCP   ---- (SYN) ------------------------------>
              <---- (SYN+ACK) -------------------------
   send query ---- "Smith<CR><LF>" -------------------->
   get answer <---- "Info about Smith<CR><LF>" ---------
              <---- "More info about Smith<CR><LF>" ----
   close      <---- (FIN) ------------------------------
              ----- (FIN) ----------------------------->
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