The reign of WHOIS to define domain registration may be coming to a close in the face of security issues, leading to a growing number of fraudulent Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates and heightened concern from certificate authorities (CAs) and web browser developers. After a report from watchTowr showed that criminals could mess with WHOIS records to nab certificates for domains belonging to others, Google officially suggested winding down the reliance on WHOIS data. Google, Apple, and Microsoft are all part of the CA/Browser Forum that determines standards, and the group is laying out how to end their WHOIS dependency. Under Google’s proposal, CAs would no longer turn to WHOIS data domain ownership confirmation beginning in November.
This is more than just a small technical decision. TLS certificates have defined a large portion of internet security for a long time by encrypting data sent between websites and users to make sure the information goes where it should. They put the “S” for secure in the “HTTPS” protocol. WHOIS data has been key for verifying the ownership and rightful endpoint of that data for a long time, serving as a public directory to both identify and reach a website’s owners.
