The Domain Name System, well known under the acronym DNS, is a critical service used in every single communication that we people, systems, and applications do on the Internet.

ICANN implemented a community-wide initiative known as the KINDNS, launched in September 2022 and so far, 974 self-assessments were taken by various operators. The self-assessment is one of the tools provided in the KINDNS platform that can easily help DNS operators in enhancing the security and effectiveness of their services. Let us have a dip into the KINDNS initiative.

KINDNS is a comprehensive framework of operational best practices, designed to empower authoritative and recursive DNS operators in enhancing the security and effectiveness of their services.

This service is available through a small set of mutually agreed norms or guidelines that operators of any size can easily implement. These norms support a secure DNS ecosystem and help DNS operators follow the evolution of the DNS protocol and best practices the industry identifies for better security as well as more effective DNS operations.

Any interested DNS operator can take the self-assessment here, or decide first to go through the practices which are available as guidelines described here and prepare to take the assessment later, after implementing the practices they identify not yet in place in their operations. A description of DNS operators categories is also available here and can be helpful to any operator willing to know which practices they should follow.

On 3rd August 2023, I was invited by AFRINIC to speak about the project, some of the essential components of the KINDNS framework and their key landmarks. This was part of the AFRINIC webinar series 2023.

It was one of my greatest webinar experiences in 2023, not only with regards to the structure of the session but in terms of audience participation. We had 411 participants attend the session, and 120 of them took our poll rating their interest in taking KinDNS self-assessment and 105 were agreeable to the self-assessment.

We started by presenting the initiative and then AFRINIC showed their KINDNS self-assessment report and how they have worked over the years to implement DNS best practices in their DNS infrastructures.

It was very encouraging to see the level of interest of the audience in the webinar.

We are really looking forward to seeing operators in the African region using and adopting KINDNS practices in their overall cybersecurity strategy for more secured DNS infrastructures and services in our region.

Together, let’s continue working together to maintain the Internet stable, resilient and secure.

The webinar slides are available here.

The video of the webinar is available here.

We invite you to read more about the KINDNS project here.