The AFRINIC whois database is a public database and we recommend that all the objects therein are protected (usually by a maintainer object) to prevent unauthorised modifications.

It is recommended that all objects are protected. This is done using a mntner(maintainer) object. Practically, this means that in a certain object – such as a person – you refer to this mntner with the "mnt-by:" attribute. Follow the steps in the "Create a Mntner Object" page if you have not yet created a mntner object.

Note: In the new Whois Database version 2.3, person and role objects which at the time of creation do not have a "mnt-by" attribute, will have an auto-generated mntner which will protect the object. The password of that maintainer will be sent to the email address(es) specified in the "e-mail:" attribute(s) upon creation of the object.

Follow the steps below to protect your objects from unauthorised modifications:

1. Search for and load the object you want to protect. On the AfriNIC Whois client, click on "Query" tab. Type in the object you want to protect, click on the Checkbox next to "I'm not a robot", select the appropriate images and click on "Verify". After the human check is completed, click on "Search".
   
2. Hover your cursor over the "Serch Result" and click on "Update".
   
3. In the example below, we will protect the Person object with the mntner AFRINIC-JS39-MNT. Drag the "mnt-by" from the template on the right into the text area and add the mntner. You will need to enter the clear text password of the maintainer at the bottom before submitting.
   
4. You should see "Object Successfully Update!"
   
5. You may query the Whois to verify the Person object. E.g the query "-rB john smith" now gives the output below;