CEH Footprinting, Reconnaissance and Scanning Practice Question
A junior penetration tester runs the command: whois example.com. What type of information are they MOST likely trying to obtain?
⚠ Common exam trap
EC-Council often tests the distinction between WHOIS (domain registration metadata) and DNS lookups (IP resolution), leading candidates to mistakenly associate WHOIS with IP addresses or server configuration details.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Domain registration details such as registrar, creation date, and contact information
The `whois` command queries a WHOIS server (typically operated by a Regional Internet Registry or domain registrar) to retrieve domain registration details. This includes the registrar name, creation and expiration dates, name servers, and often administrative/technical contact information. It is a core footprinting technique used to gather publicly available metadata about a domain owner and infrastructure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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DNS zone transfer information
Why it's wrong here
WHOIS queries are designed to retrieve registration data from domain registrars or registries, not to interact with DNS servers. DNS zone transfers, conversely, are a specific mechanism within the Domain Name System (DNS) itself, used to replicate DNS records between primary and secondary name servers. Performing a zone transfer requires specific DNS queries (e.g., AXFR, IXFR) directed at a DNS server, not a WHOIS server, and typically requires the DNS server to be misconfigured to allow unauthorized transfers.
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The IP address of the web server
Why it's wrong here
While a WHOIS query provides information about the domain's registered name servers, it does not directly return the IP address of the web server hosting the domain. To resolve a domain name like "example.com" to its corresponding IP address, a DNS lookup (e.g., using `nslookup` or `dig`) is required. WHOIS focuses on registration metadata, whereas DNS translates human-readable domain names into machine-readable IP addresses for network communication.
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Open ports on the target server
Why it's wrong here
Discovering open ports on a target server is achieved through port scanning, an active reconnaissance technique that involves sending connection requests to various ports to determine their status and identify running services. Tools like Nmap are specifically designed for this purpose. A WHOIS query, being a passive information-gathering method, only retrieves publicly available registration data and has no capability to probe a server for its network service availability or open ports.
- ✓
Domain registration details such as registrar, creation date, and contact information
Why this is correct
The `whois` command is specifically designed to query WHOIS databases, which contain publicly available registration information for domain names and IP address blocks. This data includes critical details such as the domain registrar, the domain's creation and expiration dates, the associated name servers, and administrative, technical, and registrant contact information. This information is invaluable for initial footprinting and reconnaissance phases of a penetration test.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CEH practice question is part of Courseiva's free EC-Council certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CEH exam.