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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  • The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date.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.

More frequently asked questions

Malicious practices on the rise in new gTLDs

  • Monday 25 September 2017

New generic top-level domains (gTLDs) such as .online, .science and .support are being used more often for phishing, malware and spam. That's the main conclusion of a joint study by SIDN Labs and Delft University of Technology undertaken for ICANN.

SIDN Labs and TU Delft deliver final report for ICANN study

"The aim of the project was a statistical analysis of domain name abuse in new and legacy gTLDs," explained Maarten Wullink, Senior Research Engineer at SIDN Labs, the research arm of SIDN. "The New Generic Top-Level Domain Programme that ICANN started in 2013 has led to more than 1,200 new gTLDs being added to the domain name system. And this is the first time that the abuse of new and legacy top-level domain names has been subject to rigorous scientific study."

Spam is migrating to new gTLDs

The report looks at the abuse of new gTLDs for malicious practices such as phishing, spamming and malware distribution. One striking finding is that, although the overall volume of spam is fairly stable, spammers are increasingly leaving legacy gTLDs and working from new gTLDs instead. However, there are big differences between the new gTLDs. "For one in three new gTLDs, not a single spam report was made in the fourth quarter of 2016," points out Maciej Korczynski, who worked on the study for TU Delft . "Yet, in the same period, Spamhaus blacklisted fifteen new gTLDs because at least 10 per cent of their registered domain names were being used to send spam."

"The results of the study show that some new gTLDs are more popular with spammers than others," adds Maarten Wullink. "That might be because the gTLDs in question have less strict registration conditions, or simply because they are cheap. Or maybe both."

CCT Review Team

SIDN Labs and TU Delft carried out their Statistical Analysis of DNS Abuse in gTLDs (SADAG) for ICANN'sCompetition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice (CCT) Review Team. Visit ICANN's website for the final report. The CCT Review Team's role is to evaluate ICANN's New gTLD Programme. It'll use the study's findings to make recommendations about the prevention and reduction of domain name abuse.

Further research

SIDN Labs will also be using methodology and findings of the SADAG study for a project of its own called DNS-EMAP. The project will involve mapping the DNS ecosystem in order to track security incidents and identify players with high abuse concentrations, for example. Relationships between high-abuse players and others will be examined as well. "We'll be using the SADAG methodology and statistics to build a model of the players within a TLD," says Maarten Wullink. "That'll mean looking at things such as DNS resolvers, domain names, registrars and web servers. The aim is then to assign security attributes to the various players."