By 
By Ross Moyo
Zimbabwe is hosting the Inter-Regional CyberDrill and Conference from today 30 June to 3 July 2026 in Victoria Falls.
This is set to align national and regional cybersecurity strategies, deepen law enforcement cooperation, and test crisis readiness
The cyber drill serves as a training ground for government officials, Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs), law enforcement officers, and telecommunications operators to mitigate real-world cyber threats.
Cyber drill will exclusively focus on national CIRT/CSIRT teams and law enforcement .
The other days are open to a broader scope of stakeholders, including Ministries, regulators, and academia for inter-regional collaboration National Cybersecurity Initiatives
This drill aligns with Zimbabwe’s broader national digital resilience efforts . Key components of Zimbabwe’s cybersecurity strategy include:The National Computer Incident Response Team (ZW-CIRT): Established to monitor, detect, and respond to cyber threats affecting government, critical infrastructure, and businesses .
Cyber and Data Protection Act (Chapter 12:07): The legislative framework established to govern digital platforms and criminalize offenses such as hacking, data breaches, and online harassment.
National AI Strategy: A broad initiative aimed at implementing AI-driven fraud detection platforms, criminalizing AI misuse (like deepfakes), and training thousands of cybersecurity professionals.
International and regional speakers from the UN, INTERPOL and ITU are set to make their address while the minister of ICT Postal and Courier Services Hon. Tatenda Mavetera will make her key remarks.
Amongst other local speakers, ppl no Tsitsi Mariwo, POTRAZ’s Director of Data Protection, will present the country’s cybersecurity architecture. That will be followed by ITU and INTERPOL assessments of the threat landscape, and a case study on Morocco’s Operation Ramz, to show how regional operations can deliver results.
The policy heart of the day is Panel 1 on national cyber resilience. Deputy Director Evidence Mazhindu, Malawi CERT’s Christopher Banda and counterparts from Africa and Arab states will compare approaches to strategy, institutional coordination and multi-stakeholder inclusion. The question is whether frameworks translate into operational readiness.
Law enforcement capacity is the next layer. Kevin Kiban, who heads INTERPOL’s Africa Cybercrime Operations Desk, will outline coordinated responses at 13:30. Later, Panel 3 will focus on national cyber crisis management, with Benin’s CID head and Zimbabwe’s Zivo Keith Chamba sharing models for incident response planning and institutional coordination.
DNS is treated as critical infrastructure, not just plumbing. Panel 2, moderated by ICANN, will bring together KeNIC, AfricaCERT, Liquid Zimbabwe, Telone and CIRTs to discuss DNS ecosystem security. The emphasis will be on incident coordination, information sharing and regional best practice to keep the internet resilient.
Training is not an afterthought as today Tuesday 30 June, two tracks will run: one on cyber threat intelligence from infrastructure to community, led by FIRST and CERT ng; the other on KINDNS and credential management, led by ICANN. The goal is to ensure that management and technical teams leave with the same operating language.
Application follows on Thursday 2 July and Friday 3 July with scenario-based exercises. FIRST and ITU will run scenarios on Thursday. INTERPOL and CYBERRANGES take Friday. Teams will work through live injects on the Cyber Range, testing detection, containment and reporting across jurisdictions.
The drill links directly to Zimbabwe’s broader digital agenda, including data protection, digital ID and sovereign AI. Closing remarks on Friday from ITU’s Serge Valery Zongo, INTERPOL’s Kevin Kiban and POTRAZ are expected to channel the outcomes into updated regional CIRT collaboration frameworks.
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