Dutch internet pioneer Jaap Akkerhuis knighted
While at SIDN, Jaap played a key role in the development and promotion of DNSSEC
On 24 April 2026, Jaap Akkerhuis became a Knight in the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands: the highest civilian order of chivalry in the Netherlands. The honour is awarded to people who have made outstanding contributions to society. Akkerhuis is a Dutch internet pioneer, protocol designer and expert on the internet’s naming system. He is currently Senior Research Engineer at NLnet Labs and Vice-Chair of the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency, responsible for the assignment of country codes (e.g. ‘NL’ for the Netherlands and ‘DE’ for Germany), which also form the basis for internet domains such as .nl.
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Mayor of Diemen Erik Boog (left) and Jaap Akkerhuis.
Central to the internet’s development in the Netherlands
Working in the background since the 1980s, Akkerhuis has made an instrumental contribution to the development of the internet in the Netherlands and around the world. Jaap was part of the CWI team that realised the first public internet connection between Europe and America. Together with other pioneers such as Teus Hagen, Piet Beertema, Jim McKie and Daniel Karrenberg, Jaap laid the foundations for Amsterdam to become a global internet hub. His applied research at SIDN made it possible to cryptographically sign internet names at scale (DNSSEC) – a milestone in the security of the global Domain Name System (DNS).
To the present day
At the IETF, the internet’s international standardisation organisation, Jaap played an active role in standardising the technology for the automated registration of internet domain names. The resulting protocol, EPP, is used to this day by registries around the world, including SIDN.
Internet infrastructure expert
For 23 years, Jaap advised on threats to the stability and security of the Internet as a member of ICANN‘s Security and Stability Advisory Committee. His position on such an authoritative advisory body illustrated the strength of his international reputation as an expert on the internet infrastructure and his ongoing commitment to the stability and security of the global DNS. Jaap also co-founded and chaired RIPE‘s DNS Working Group, facilitating operational coordination amongst critical internet infrastructure operators.
Internet Hall of Fame
In 2017, Jaap was admitted to the Internet Hall of Fame – an honour reserved for the world’s exceptional internet pioneers. His admittance confirmed his remarkable contribution to the development of the internet as a public infrastructure.
Congratulations!
Jaap’s work has had a lasting impact on the digital society in the Netherlands and far beyond. We therefore extend our warmest congratulations on his richly deserved knighthood. We are proud to have had Jaap as part of our team.
Pioneers who wanted to connect the world – To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the internet’s formation, we talked to Jaap and other internet pioneers in November 2019 about the internet’s infancy. Check out the video! https://youtu.be/nZclgJsNtLA?t=95
