The regional organization of ccTLDs in Latin America and the Caribbean, organized a technical workshop on September 3 in Panama which brought together 21 ccTLDs from the region (*), framed within one of the projects of the ICANN Strategic Plan in Latin America and the Caribbean – Security, Stability and Resiliency in the DNS- LACTLD. According to Christian O’Flaherty, Senior Development Manager for the Internet Society Latin America Office, this demonstrated the development achieved by the organization: “The Internet Society has been supporting the LACTLD technical meetings for several years. It is the most relevant and valuable workshop for ccTLD operators in the LAC region. The recent workshop was a great success and a milestone that confirms the current growth and maturity of the organization”.
This workshop addressed primarily technical aspects of Security, Stability and Resiliency (SSR) in the DNS along with IPv6 and EPP issues. The ccTLDS shared tips and lessons learned from tutorials, case studies and discussions. According to Sofia Zerbino, LACTLD Information Officer, the highlight of the workshop was the quality of the participation of the 21 ccTLDs present as well as the atmosphere of collaboration and camaraderie that usually characterize these meetings: “The positive experience is reflected in the data obtained from the survey: 80% were totally satisfied, 63% said they have completely covered their expectations”.
Gonzalo Romero, Internet Head of Security for .CO Internet, highlighted several questions that resulted from this experience, noting that this is an important moment for the region and the work of the TLD’s and they should take advantage of ICANN’s support, and organization that is promoting and supporting these issues: “Having the opportunity to share with people as knowledgeable as John Crain, and attending the SROC course offered by Delta-Risk, a strategic ally of ICANN on issues of training and technical capacity building, are experiences that should continue to be given in other events, at different scales and levels”.
For years, now ICANN has been supporting these training activities for ccTLD operators in the region and this time in a systemic way to include such initiatives within the Strategic Plan for the region. In this occasion, John L. Crain, ICANN’s Security, Stability and Resiliency Senior Director, was one of the instructors working with participants on security in ccTLD operations: “It was with great pleasure that I attended the LACTLD technical workshop in Panama City, Panama this September. LACTLD conferences provide a wonderful opportunity to mingle and discuss with one’s peers from the Latin American and Caribbean DNS industry as well as experts from outside the region (…) It was fantastic to see friends old and new and I look forward to being back in the region for ICANN’s next meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina”.
So, how will we moved forward? Four key tasks that resulted from the technical workshop in Panama include:
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(1) How can we follow up on the actions and activities that the technicians who attend and participate in these workshops are developing? It is urgent to start applying management metrics or indicators to somehow identify the results of the ccTLDs progress in the region, in terms of Security, Stability and Resiliency in the DNS
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(2) Do the TLD’s technical and commercial areas cooperate? Are they committed to develop innovation? Is there support from the directors for research and development regarding the DNS within the TLD’s / NIC’s?
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(3) Some countries in the region have advanced very interesting models of cooperative action for cybersecurity and cyberdefense incident management. How do we replicate these models in other countries?
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(4) Each country is developing strategies in security awareness, but LAC countries like Panama and Paraguay have recently adopted initiatives to handle a single universal language like the APWG’s STOP-THINK-CONNECT (details: http://x.co/2MHzv). How can the other countries in the region join this initiative?
The Community Working Group, which is leading this project within the regional Strategic Plan, is charged with developing a strategy for follow actions on the above questions. Congratulations to LACTLD and its members on a successful and constructive workshop, gaining momentum towards achieving our goals in the region.
(*) These were: ar, .ai, .br, .bo, .bz, .cl, .co, .cr, .cu, .ec, .gt, .gy,.ht, .kn, .mx, .pa, .pe, .py, .sv, .uy, .ve
