Of the big domain name extensions, .nl is one of the most secure
But there's still room for improvement
Relative to its size, the .nl domain in one of the most secure domain name extensions in the world. But there's still scope for reducing the number of untrustworthy websites in the .nl zone. That's the conclusion of a report by Scamadviser, which analysed more than seven million websites using its bespoke tooling. Scamadviser is a company that specialises in warning consumers about online fraud.
One of the lowest suspect site percentages anywhere
It's no surprise that .nl features in Scamadviser's report: as one of the biggest and most active domains in the world, .nl is included in almost every extensive survey. Of the seven million websites scanned by Scamadviser, 52,000 had .nl domain names. Out of those, 699 were labelled 'suspect'. That's just 1.3 per cent. Amongst the big domains, .nl's suspect site percentage is one of the lowest, after Australia (1.2 per cent) and China (0.36 per cent).
Figure 1: Percentage of untrustworthy sites per domain name extension .
One of the world’s biggest hosting sectors
It's also worth noting that there's a difference between websites with .nl domain names and websites hosted in the Netherlands. The Netherlands has one of the biggest hosting sectors in the world, so it's inevitably going to feature in a survey like Scamadviser's. Again, the country performs relatively well. However, at 2.3 per cent, the percentage of untrustworthy Dutch-hosted sites is higher than the percentage of untrustworthy .nl sites. Scamadviser's data therefore indicates that many untrustworthy Dutch-hosted sites don't have .nl domain names. Unfortunately, the report doesn't say what extensions they do use.
Figure 2: Percentage of untrustworthy sites per country .
More information needed
Scamadviser's report confirms a picture that's been apparent for some time: the Netherlands and .nl score well on internet security, but there's still room for improvement. However, more information is needed if anti-abuse activities are to be refined. For example, the Scamadviser report talks about untrustworthy or suspect sites, not confirmed scam sites. So, presumably, the figures include some 'false positives'. Also, no explanation is given of how sites are identified as suspect. It's possible, therefore, that the detections include legitimate sites with suspicious characteristics. A site with a missing TLS certificate may simply belong to a start-up, whose proprietor has overlooked it, for example.
Report confirms the importance of investing in security
In the Netherlands, great progress has been made with tackling internet crime, such as fake webshops. Aided by our Abuse204.nl programme, SIDN and the .nl registrars have together slashed the average uptime of phishing and malware sites, from 144 hours to twenty-one by the end of 2020. Investing in a secure .nl pays dividends. Digital identities, one of our growth domains, has considerable potential in that context. That's underscored by the fact that Scamadviser cites Denmark as an example of good practice. There, domain name registrants have to identify themselves using eIDs. Introduction of the policy led to an 80 per cent fall in fake webshops with the .dk extension.
