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Frequently asked questions

  • I am looking for a domain name registrant. Where can I look it up?

    The Whois is an easy-to-use tool for checking the availability of a .nl domain name. If the domain name is already taken, you can see who has registered it.

    On the page looking up a domain name you will find more information about what a domain name is, how the Whois works and how the privacy of personal data is protected. Alternatively, you can go straight to look for a domain name via the Whois.

  • I would like to transfer my domain name to another registrar. What is the procedure?

    To get your domain name transferred, you need the token (unique ID number) for your domain name. Your existing registrar has the token and is obliged to give it to you within five days, if you ask for it. The procedure for changing your registrar is described on the page transferring your domain name.

  • The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date. How can I get them updated?

    To update the contact details associated with your domain name, you need to contact your registrar. Read more about updating contact details.

  • Why is my domain name in quarantine?

    When a domain name is cancelled, we aren't told the reason, so we can't tell you. You'll need to ask your registrar. The advantage of quarantine is that, if a name's cancelled by mistake, you can always get it back.

    One common reason is that the contract between you and your registrar says you've got to renew the registration every year. If you haven't set up automatic renewal and you don't renew manually, the registration will expire.

  • Ik heb een klacht over mijn provider/registrar. Kan ik daarvoor bij SIDN terecht?

    Wanneer je een klacht hebt over of een geschil met je registrar dan zijn er verschillende mogelijkheden om tot een oplossing te komen. Hierover lees je meer op pagina klacht over registrar. SIDN heeft geen formele klachtenprocedure voor het behandelen van een klacht over jouw registrar.

  • What conditions do I have to meet as a registrar?

    Would you like to be able to register domain names for customers or for your own organisation by dealing directly with SIDN? If so, you can become a .nl registrar. Read more about the conditions and how to apply for registrar status on the page becoming a registrar.

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Connecting research and practice to enhance digital infrastructure security

SIDN Labs Director Cristian Hesselman delivers inaugural lecture at University of Twente

Life-sized letters on the campus of the University of Twente, showing the name of the university, University of Twente.
  • Wednesday 29 November 2023

On Friday 3 November, SIDN Labs' Director Cristian Hesselman delivered his inaugural lecture at the University of Twente (UT). The occasion followed his appointment as Professor of Trusted Open Networking at the UT's Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Informatics. "The research and other work carried out in my specialist field of Trusted Open Networking help to keep on improving the reliability of the internet infrastructure," says Cristian. "And that in turn makes the internet safer for everyone. By collaborating and connecting the research and operational worlds, we maximise our impact." Cristian talks about the topics covered in his lecture, working with the UT and his vision for future internet applications.

Trusted Open Networking

Cristian Hesselman
Cristian Hesselman, Director SIDN Labs

Having been appointed to his role at the university in March 2022, Cristian delivered his inaugural lecture on 3 November this year. In his address, Cristian talked about how the internet works, future internet applications and his specialist field of Trusted Open Networking."The field I work in is concerned with the transport layer of the internet, which I refer to as the internet infrastructure. The internet infrastructure is made up of more than 75,000 autonomously operated networks and their constantly shifting interconnections. Despite being largely invisible to the user, that infrastructure is vitally important to the movement of data from A to B, which typically involves transport via multiple intermediate networks."

"In the field of Trusted Open Networking, insight and control are central concepts," explains Cristian. "Because the internet plays a crucial role in modern society, network operators need to know things like where 'bad neighbourhoods' are. SIDN Labs and the UT contribute to security insights of that kind through our work. We actively scan for fake webshops, for example. Control involves using measured data of the kind we collect to tackle problems – say, taking down the fake webshops we've identified."

Inaugural lecture

An inaugural lecture is a formal speech that a newly appointed university professor makes during an academic ceremony. The professor shares expertise with colleagues and others, and considers the future of the discipline.

Another important element of Cristian's role at the UT is, of course, teaching. "Since 2018, my colleagues and I have been teaching 2 MSc courses that focus on insight and control. For example, there's the Security Services for the IoT course, for which students carry out a practical project involving analysis of the network traffic associated with the IoT devices they have at home. That enables them to see how such devices communicate with internet services, often without the user being aware of it."

Valuable inter-sector partnerships

"Within Trusted Open Networking, we carry out research and we undertake practice-oriented initiatives. The work we do, my role at SIDN Labs and my role as a professor at the UT all help to build bridges between the research world and the operational world. A good example is our work on tracing malicious .nl websites on the basis of logo abuse. At SIDN Labs, we developed a system called LogoMotive, which automatically identifies logos used on websites linked to the 6.3 million .nl domain names, and flags up cases of suspected abuse. That research has had direct practical benefits, as LogoMotive is now incorporated into the SIDN BrandGuard service and used by SIDN's anti-abuse team for their day-to-day work. We've also published an academic article on LogoMotive."

"Another good example is TUCCR: the Twente University Centre for Cybersecurity Research. TUCCR is a public-private partnership that brings together businesses, government bodies and the UT. That's very valuable, because collaboration leads to increased cybersecurity understanding. TUCCR also serves as a vehicle for getting the business community actively involved in the research we're doing at the UT."

Vital basis for internet security

Cristian has clear plans and ambitions. One is to raise the profile of the internet infrastructure. "A strong internet infrastructure is vital to everyone, as the basis on which internet security is built. Reinforcing that infrastructure depends on close cooperation between the business community and the academic community, as provided for in the Dutch National Cybersecurity Strategy. Similarly, the US government has addressed the topic in its own cybersecurity strategy (objective 4.1). I therefore think it's very important to make people aware just how significant the internet infrastructure and its security are," says Cristian. "For the Netherlands, Europe and the wider world."

"At SIDN Labs, we contribute to that goal by demonstrating how the internet works. For example, our PathVis tool visualises the routes that data takes from network to network, as it travels around the internet. The tool formed the basis for a physical installation called Packet Run, developed by SIDN Fund in collaboration with the Moeilijke Dingen design agency. Packet Run is a great way of letting internet users experience for themselves what goes on under the internet's hood."

"Insights of the kind provided by our work are valuable to policymakers and other influential actors as well. I want to make internet data more useful and more readily available to such people, so that they're aware of what's possible in terms of infrastructure measurements and as a starting point for the development of new measurement methods. That will hopefully lead to the realignment of existing policies on the basis of relevant information, and to the formulation of future policies that are more data-led. Another focus of mine is the promotion of digital transparency and strategic autonomy. That's an important topic in the context of European Commission policy, and on the agenda of the Cyber Security Council (CSR), which I joined on 1 September."

Cristian ended his lecture by outlining his vision for new internet applications whose capabilities considerably exceed those of today's media and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. "I'm looking at infrastructures that will be critical for the societies of the future. What insight and control will be needed, for example, if offshore windfarms or surgical robots are connected to the internet? The rise of such systems will place new demands on the internet infrastructure. For example, it'll be necessary to ensure that the data used by such systems is always routed securely across the internet, and that data senders can cryptographically verify the routes in question."

If you'd like to see the slides from Cristians's lecture or read more about the vital research and other work carried out by SIDN Labs, visit www.sidnlabs.nl.