Liquid Zimbabwe and Telone Join ICANN and INTERPOL for DNS Security Drill in Victoria Falls

By Ross Moyo

Liquid Zimbabwe, Telone, KeNIC, AfricaCERT, ICANN, INTERPOL, ITU and CIRTs are at the Inter-Regional CyberDrill 2026 which begins today 30 June to 3 July 2026. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe plays venue to harden DNS infrastructure, improve incident coordination, and train teams on realistic cyber scenarios through two training tracks, four scenario exercises, and panels that bring operators, registries and law enforcement into the same room.

For network operators, the core work starts today Tuesday 30 June with Training Track II: Securing DNS Infrastructure and Operations. Yazid AKANHO of ICANN will walk participants through KINDNS and credential management practices that reduce abuse and limit lateral movement when credentials are compromised.

Running in parallel, Training Track I focuses on cyber threat intelligence. Muchilwa Lawrence of FIRST Africa and Abbas Lawal of CERT ng will show how infrastructure telemetry becomes actionable intelligence, and how communities of practice can share it quickly without overexposing sources.

The private sector’s role becomes explicit tomorrow Wednesday 1 July at 13:45. Panel 2, moderated by ICANN, convenes Liquid Zimbabwe, Telone, KeNIC, AfricaCERT and INTERPOL. The discussion will centre on DNS threat coordination, how ISPs and registries can feed CIRTs, and how to shorten the time from detection to mitigation.

Technically, the sessions will address DNS abuse patterns, secure credential storage, and integration with CIRT workflows. For operators, the payoff is operational: fewer emergency takedowns, cleaner logs, and faster recovery when incidents occur.

The drill then moves to the Cyber Range on Thursday 2 July, teams will register at 09:30 and face Scenario 1 with FIRST, then Scenario 2 with ITU. On Friday 3 July, INTERPOL runs Scenario 3 in the morning and CYBERRANGES closes with Scenario 4 in the afternoon. The exercises are designed to test coordination under pressure.

Law enforcement is not a spectator. INTERPOL’s Kevin Kiban and CID Benin will lead segments that connect technical containment to investigative steps, helping teams understand what evidence to preserve and how to hand it off without breaking the chain.

Policy context matters for industry. A spotlight on data sovereignty, digital ID and sovereign AI by François Rodriguez of RealTyme will show how infrastructure decisions intersect with national digital priorities. For operators, that means building systems that are secure and compliant.

By hosting in Victoria Falls with POTRAZ and the ICT ministry, Zimbabwe gives local firms a seat at the table. The expected deliverables for industry are practical: KINDNS deployment guidance, CTI sharing protocols, and crisis playbooks that can be adopted without waiting for another regional meeting.