In the Letter to the House of Representatives (in Dutch) on increasing information security, a study involving citizens and companies was announced.
Study
A study has been conducted to establish the desirability of using one domain name extension for all Dutch government websites and email addresses. This study (in Dutch) shows that many citizens find it difficult to see if a website or email is, or is not, from the government. Fraudsters can use this to their advantage. Also, the unclear government image undermines the trust citizens place in real government websites.
Recommendation
The main recommendation of the study is: increase the recognisability of government websites and emails by using one unified domain name extension to all governmental domain names, like “.overheid.nl”, or another, yet to be determined, domain name extension.
Next steps
The follow-up of the study will be to produce an impact analysis of alternative measures to increase the recognisability of governmental websites and emails, which will be conducted from the second quarter of 2019 onwards. The analysis will also focus on the consequences of implementing a unified domain name extension, and to try to find ways to block (fraudulent) websites and email addresses, and to reduce the number of government websites and email addresses.