Liquid Zimbabwe, 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 held the Inter-Regional CyberDrill 2026 on 30 June – 3 July 2026 in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

This was to harden DNS infrastructure, improve incident coordination, and train teams on real-world cyber scenarios via two training tracks, four scenario exercises, and panels on KINDNS, CTI and crisis management.

DNS Track for Operators Training Track II ran across Securing DNS Infrastructure and Operations with Yazid AKANHO, ICANN. This covered KINDNS implementation and credential management, critical for ISPs and registries.

Threat Intelligence Training Track I, led by Muchilwa Lawrence, FIRST, and Abbas Lawal, CERT ng, focused on CTI from infrastructure monitoring to community sharing across Africa.

The Private Sector Panel 2 moderated by ICANN brought Liquid Zimbabwe, Telone, KeNIC, AfricaCERT and INTERPOL to discuss DNS threat coordination and incident sharing.

Technical Depth Sessions addressed DNS abuse mitigation, securing credential storage, and integration with CIRT workflows. For operators, this translated to fewer takedowns and faster mitigation.

Scenario testing FIRST and ITU scenarios on the Cyber Range had INTERPOL and CYBERRANGES scenarios. Teams registered accounts and responded to live injects.

Law Enforcement Interface by INTERPOL’s Kevin Kiban and CID Benin led sessions linking technical teams to law enforcement, closing the gap between detection and prosecution.

Data and AI Alignment spotlight on data sovereignty, digital ID and sovereign AI by François Rodriguez, RealTyme, ties infrastructure security to national digital policy.

Zimbabwe’s Role with POTRAZ and the Ministry of ICT hosting, couldnt be clearer. Zimbabwe positions Victoria Falls as a venue for regional tech collaboration, with local firms like Liquid and Telone in the room.

Deliverables for Industry expected outputs include KINDNS deployment guidance, CTI sharing protocols, and crisis playbooks that ISPs and enterprises can adopt immediately.