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  • The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date.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

Cheap connected home devices threatening our security and privacy

  • Monday 4 November 2019

The evolving Internet of Things (IoT) poses a serious security and privacy threat to both Internet users and access providers. All these cheap little devices that we order en masse from online marketplaces all over the world and connect to our home networks without a second thought provide easy-to-exploit attack surfaces. Given the fact that most of these devices will never in their lives receive a software update -- the smallest ones don't even have the memory to perform such a thing -- it's not a matter of if but when malicious parties find their way into your home network.

SPIN now ready for production use

Hacked devices then serve as springboards to infect other devices and upstream systems. Or they become part of botnets collecting valuable data, sending spam, and launching Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks from the access network. They may even penetrate company networks and servers when we are working from an infected home network.

A sea of unmanaged home devices

Taking into account that the IoT will soon comprise tens of billions of networked devices, of which a large portion will be unmanaged machine-to-machine (M2M) home devices, the security and privacy risks will affect all Internet users. Over the next few years the number of networked devices in a typical "connected home" is expected to run in the dozens. If we don't take measures to mitigate the risks involved with this new hyperconnected world, we may very well lose control over our smart homes. As a consequence, Internet users will run a high risk of becoming victims of ransomware, identity theft, theft of valuable information and assets, and the publication of sensitive and private information.

Maintaining control

Anticipating this imminent future in which our environment will be infested with unmanaged devices, we have developed software that allows end users and access providers to maintain control over all the devices connected to the home network. The software bears the name SPIN -- short for Security and Privacy for In-home Networks -- and provides end users with an interface that shows all devices connected through the home gateway and their traffic flows. Users can drill down to get more information on a specific device, and use the resulting pop-up to ignore, rename, block, or whitelist this node. Access providers can be provided with the same insight and functionality from their side of the gateway, and add an interface that allows them to easily integrate SPIN into their existing security management infrastructure and self-help portals. The SPIN software itself can directly be incorporated into any home router (CPE) by the manufacturer as part of an OpenWrt/Linux image.

Downloads

If you want a first-hand experience of SPIN's features, a binary image for the Raspberry Pi is readily available for download.