domain-infra-history
Shodan
A search engine for internet-connected devices and services that also keeps historical service banners. You query it through its own web interface, which we link to; an official API exists but requires a key and is mostly paid. Researchers reach for it when tracing what services or software a host has exposed over time, as part of domain and infrastructure history work.
No programmatic check, opens the archive’s own search.
Why it’s useful & how it works
Shodan is the go-to resource when tracing what services or software a host has historically exposed to the internet, from web servers and databases to industrial control systems and consumer IoT devices. It works by continuously scanning every routable IP address and recording the banner each service returns, building up a historical record of how hosts have appeared over time. Echo links you to Shodan's own search form where you run queries by IP, hostname, or keyword; an official API with deeper access requires a paid key.
What’s inside
Shodan indexes hundreds of millions of internet-connected devices and services, with more than 500 million new service records added to its database each month. Banners, metadata, and historical snapshots are stored across a wide range of protocols.
API access
https://api.shodan.io/ (key; mostly paid)
An API key is required (usually free); see the endpoints above for where to get one.
What we measured
Our own probes, not the archive’s own claims. Re-run periodically; every reading below is dated.
Reachability
- Direct request
- Responded HTTP 200 85 ms
- Through a datacenter proxy
- Responded HTTP 200 560 ms
- API, direct
- Not found HTTP 404 248 ms
- API, through a proxy
- Not found HTTP 404 651 ms
Reachability measured 2026-08-22.
Access
Freely reachable, no key, login, or captcha.