During ICANN85 in Mumbai, India, the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) emphasized the need to think about Internet resilience through the lens of survivability, not stability alone. At ICANN86 in Seville, Spain, we continued to examine emerging challenges to the Domain Name System (DNS), including the rapidly evolving implications of artificial intelligence (AI). SSAC co-hosted a community session with the Business Constituency of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) on the Current and Coming Impact of Artificial Intelligence on DNS Abuse.
The session brought together technical experts, security practitioners, and policy stakeholders to examine how AI is changing the DNS Abuse threat landscape and how the same technologies may strengthen detection, analysis, and response. Key takeaways included:
- Operational Dynamics: The ways in which AI is used has the potential to fundamentally alter the economics of abuse by increasing the speed, scale, and sophistication of malicious campaigns.
- The Defender's Advantage: While AI aids malicious actors, it offers security practitioners opportunities to leverage enhanced tools and services to identify patterns, correlate signals, and deploy rapid responses.
- Operational Readiness: The challenge now is to build systems, coordination mechanisms, and operational practices that remain effective as both malicious and defensive capabilities evolve.
SSAC remains committed to surfacing these emerging technical issues to help the ICANN community remain proactive in its defense strategies.
ICANN86 also provided important opportunities for direct engagement across the ICANN community. SSAC participated in joint sessions with the At-Large Advisory Committee, the Noncommercial Stakeholder Group, and the GNSO Contracted Parties House. These exchanges allowed us to discuss current and upcoming SSAC work, hear directly about the priorities and concerns of other parts of the ICANN community, and identify areas where technical expertise and cross-community collaboration can contribute to shared goals.
A recurring theme in these discussions was the importance of early engagement on emerging issues. We recognize that technical challenges often push policy. Creating opportunities for dialogue before positions become fixed can help the ICANN community better understand the technical dimensions of an issue and identify where further research, advice, or coordination may be valuable.
SSAC members also continued our tradition of open knowledge sharing through Lightning Talks and the DNSSEC and Security Workshop. These sessions provide a forum for brief, technically focused presentations on emerging developments in cybersecurity, Internet governance, and DNS security. Topics in Seville ranged from cybersecurity threats affecting at-risk communities to recent developments in DNS blocking and other operational security issues. Recordings of these sessions are available.
Looking Ahead to ICANN87
ICANN Public Meetings remain an indispensable opportunity to test technical assumptions and address challenges before they become systemic problems. SSAC values these opportunities to contribute its technical expertise toward our shared goal: a secure, stable, and resilient Internet, capable of surviving systemic vulnerabilities.
We look forward to continuing these conversations during the ICANN87 Annual General Meeting in October.
