ICT Stakeholders Push for Implementation of DNSSEC to Protect Nigeria’s .ng Domain Name

During a webinar organized by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) to mark the global Cybersecurity Awareness Month, ICT stakeholders emphasized the urgent need for the implementation of DNSSEC to safeguard Nigeria's .ng domain name and bolster the country's digital ecosystem. The experts called on the federal government to recognize DNS as a critical national infrastructure to ensure secure and uncompromised internet browsing.

DNS, the internet's phonebook, translates human-readable web addresses like .com into numerical IP addresses that computers use to communicate. DNSSEC, a security extension, adds cryptographic digital signatures to DNS records to verify their origin and prevent tampering. This security feature is crucial in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) where internet fraudsters use AI to create convincing websites and messages to defraud users.

NiRA's President, Mr. Adesola Akinsanya, highlighted the necessity of DNSSEC in the face of increasing internet fraud, stating that it is an essential layer of security that must work in tandem with other protective measures to create a resilient digital ecosystem. The .ng zone is already signed, and a significant portion of Nigerian internet users rely on resolvers that validate DNSSEC signatures.

However, DNSSEC support among domain registrars remains limited, creating a gap between the security established at the registry level and its adoption across the wider domain ecosystem.

Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, underscored the DNS's role as a national infrastructure that borders on government services, warning that internet fraudsters could divert or redirect it, causing widespread disruptions to online transactions such as payments for airtime and data.

He called for a collaborative effort among the registry, registrars, domain name owners, network providers, and the government to secure Nigeria's .ng domain and digital ecosystem.

NiRA's Executive Board Member, Mr. Ahmad Mukoshy, explained that DNS, designed for traffic routing, creates a security gap for domain name owners and users. DNS can be exploited to redirect messages and users to fraudulent websites through caching injections. Implementing DNSSEC would provide additional security to DNS, as it verifies the authenticity of DNS responses using digital signatures.

Mukoshy emphasized that the .ng signed zone, which directs users to resolvers, relies on signed keys; if these keys are compromised, trust is breached. The NiRA has taken steps to launch DNSSEC and infrastructure on the Nigerian registry, but the next phase involves making DNSSEC accessible and manageable for government institutions to enhance national security and the security of .ng domain names.