Cairo, the capital of Egypt is to host the second location for the deployment of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) managed root server on the continent, reports ITREALMS.
This latest installation, ITREALMS gathered will be deployed in next month, September and was made possible following the understanding between the Coalition for Digital Africa (C4DA) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
This deployment of ICANN Managed Root Server (IMRS) installation in Africa, ITREALMS also gathered was part of the C4DA initiative launched in 2022.
ITREALMS recalled that the first IMRS deployment was made operational in Nairobi, Kenya in November 2022, resulting in most Africa-based Internet Domain Name System (DNS) root queries now being resolved on the continent.
In addition, ITREALMS gathered that the IMRS in Nairobi, Kenya handles some 40 per cent of all IMRS DNS root queries for the continent, whereas prior to the installation, 35 to 40 percent of the DNS query traffic was traveling outside of Africa for resolution.
Experts informed ITREALMS that the two IMRS installations increase the resiliency of the global Root Server System for Internet users across the continent. IMRS installations add root server capacity to support an expected exponential increase in Internet adoption across Africa. The IMRS installations assist in keeping Africa-sourced root Domain Name System (DNS) queries answered within the region and reduce dependence on networks and servers in other parts of the world. This resiliency improves the Internet experience for users across Africa.
The root servers also boost national and regional Internet resiliency by helping root server traffic stay local. Egypt's National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is collaborating with ICANN in the installation of the IMRS in Cairo, Egypt.
The IMRS installations will reduce the impact of potential cyberattacks on Africa, should the global Root Server System be attacked. Distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) cyberattacks work by overwhelming servers with a flood of queries. With two separate IMRS deployment locations in Africa, and higher bandwidth and data processing capacity, the risk of the Internet being impacted because of a DDOS cyberattack is significantly reduced.
Further, ITREALMS recollected that C4DA was conceived by ICANN, as an alliance of like-minded organizations committed to building a robust and secure Internet infrastructure to bring more Africans online.
Remmy Nweke/DoP
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