We place limits on how many consecutive queries can be made directly to the WHOIS server in a rolling period by hosts whose IP addresses are not in whitelisted ranges. We check for abuse from both single IPs and IP ranges.
By default, we whitelist any IP ranges listed in ICANN’s RADAR database. If for some reason your organisation does not list the IP ranges from which it will be making WHOIS queries from in RADAR, whether it be to avoid denial of service attacks, &c., then contact us directly with a list of IP ranges you wish to see whitelisted. We may require some proof that your request is legitimate before proceeding with whitelisting.
If you do not currently publish the ranges you query from in RADAR, we urge you to do so.