The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), in collaboration with the Cybersecurity Capacity Centre for Southern Africa (C3SA), co-hosted a regional training on Domain Name System (DNS) abuse from 7th to 10th April 2026 at Sunbird Mount Soche hotel in Blantyre.
The training was designed to sharpen participants’ understanding of how DNS abuse was being tackled across Southern Africa. It covered both the technical and governance sides of DNS management, raising awareness, spotlighting key challenges and opportunities, and helping stakeholders build stronger, more reliable security practices.
Domain Name System (DNS) abuse was one of the most prevalent yet underreported cyber threats, mostly linked to attacks such as phishing, botnets and denial-of-service (DoS). These threats continued to contribute to the misuse of internet infrastructure across the region.
Africa’s digital landscape had some serious weak spots especially when it came to country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) registries, registrars and registrants. Poor stakeholder engagement, lax security controls, inadequate monitoring and a general lack of collaboration had made it increasingly hard to keep DNS infrastructure safe.
This initiative was part of a wider regional project focusing on nine Southern African countries flagged as highly vulnerable by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI).
Beyond the training, the project involved working with local authorities, gathering on-the-ground data and helping shape DNS management training content that actually reflected the realities of the region, all in the interest of building stronger cybersecurity resilience across Southern Africa.