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The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date.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.
As financial institutions reinforce their security, internet fraudsters are increasingly turning their attention to the e-commerce sector. In 2014, no less than 32.4 per cent of all attacks were aimed at webshops, with 'only' 25.7 per cent targeting banks.* As more and more trade is done on line, phishing is becoming a serious threat to consumers and to the reputation of webshops.
Phishing is using fake websites to trick people into giving sensitive information, such as personal data or payment details. Phishers will sometimes copy a whole webshop, including the product range and payment system, purely to get customers to enter their card details. Those details are then sold to other criminals or used by the phishers themselves to make purchases from real webshops, paid for from the duped customers' accounts.
Domain names
A domain name is a valuable asset. Your domain name enables customers to go straight to your website. Many people also look at a domain name to tell whether they are on the site that they meant to visit.
They will trust the site at www.myonlinebikeshop.nl, for example, but not a site with an unfamiliar foreign name, such as www.freehost.pl/t/83/myonlinebikeshop/. However, the trust that users put in familiar names makes them vulnerable. And fraudsters cash in on that vulnerability.
Typosquatting
A new wave of phishers are making use of sophisticated techniques. One of their tactics is 'typosquatting': registering a domain name very similar to the name of a well-known organisation or webshop, but with a subtle difference (e.g. www.myonljnebikeshop.nl).People who make a slip when typing are then liable to end up looking at the squatter's site – often a fake webshop.It takes a sharp eye to notice that the domain name in a browser's address bar is just one or two letters different from what's expected. So visitors frequently don't suspect that the webshop they've reached is a fake. As a result, domain names that resemble trusted names are very attractive to phishers who want to get hold of customers' passwords or card details, for example.
Abuse of brand names
Another approach used by fraudsters is to register a domain name that includes a brand name and looks like the sort of name a trusted site would use. In 2014, for example, a site went on line at www.mediamarktoutlet.nl. A substantial number of visitors were soon tricked into placing orders, thinking that the site they were on was linked to the well-known Dutch retailer Mediamarkt.Payments left the victims' accounts, but no goods were ever sent. As well as hitting innocent consumers, the incident had undesirable implications for the Mediamarkt brand.
SIDN BrandGuard
To help tackle abuses such as those described, SIDN has developed SIDN BrandGuard. The service enables subscribers to monitor relevant .nl registrations in real time. Every time the system detects a registration that could be linked to typosquatting or brand name abuse, the subscriber is alerted. The subscriber tells SIDN BrandGuard what name or word is to be protected, and the system looks out for all possible variations of it. So subscribers are able to respond quickly to any abusive registration – by challenging the registration or warning customers about a fake webshop and the dangers posed by phishing.
More information
If you'd like to know more about SIDN BrandGuard, visit www.sidn.nl/brandguard. Two versions of SIDN BrandGuard are available. There is a web version, which features a user-friendly interface for entering search terms and dealing with abusive registrations. And there is a feed version, designed mainly for companies that want to build their own applications powered by SIDN BrandGuard data, or integrate SIDN BrandGuard alerts into existing workflows.
