Notes from 26 August 2021 APAC Space Web Conference

This APAC Space web conference covered the following:

1. updates on the APAC Regional Plan,
2. ICANN org’s DNS Security Threat Mitigation Program, and
3. planning of ICANN72, along focusing on the APAC community’s participation challenges.

Amrita Choudhury facilitated the open community discussions.

1. APAC Regional Plan FY21 Achievements and FY22 Highlights — Jia-Rong Low, Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement & Managing Director, APAC, ICANN

Based on the FY21-25 APAC Regional Plan, Jia-Rong gave an update of the ICANN APAC Regional Office’s achievements in FY21 (July 2020 to June 2021). He also shared upcoming highlights for FY22.

Full details are in the presentation slides. An expanded version of the slides with comprehensive data will be published when available.

Community Discussion

Heather Forrest asked if the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the APAC Regional Office’s ability to deliver on the Regional Plan. Jia-Rong replied affirmatively. For instance, the annual Asia Pacific Internet Governance Academy (APIGA) was cancelled in 2020, and will become a fully virtual program for 2021.

Amrita queried on the APAC Regional Office’s focus in terms of improving engagement or technical capability in virtual settings. Jia-Rong shared that the approach to engagement has or would have to change. Using the inaugural APAC DNS Forum 2022 as an example, pushing messages/takeaways to the audience via other virtual means (besides Zoom) was equally important to engage the community.

Satish Babu (APRALO) asked if there were pre-conditions for being an IMRS host. Jia-Rong shared that local hosts are required to purchase the servers. Other costs include data centre rack space and connectivity fees, which differ depending on location and bandwidth. He also shared that unlike other root servers, IMRS instances could not be located at Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). More information on hosting an IMRS instance can be found in this FAQ.

2. DNS Security Threat Mitigation Program — Russ Weinstein, Vice President, Global Domain Division Accounts & Services, ICANN

Started as an internal initiative, the DNS Security Threat Mitigation Program was launched publicly during its July 2021 webinar. The Program was created to coordinate and align efforts across various ICANN org functions on ensuring the security, stability, and resiliency of the DNS. Such efforts can then be communicated to the community in an organized manner, and to identify further collaboration opportunities.

The Program aims to make the Internet safer for end-users by reducing the rate of DNS security threats. It has three main focus areas:

(i) Recognized as a trusted source – ICANN org to provide objective research, data, and expertise to facilitate fact-based community discussions on DNS security threats and DNS abuse.

(ii) Provide tools for the community – To conduct capacity development sessions, and to provide data on DNS security threats. Currently available tools include:

• Domain Name Security Threat Information Collection and Reporting (DNSTICR) – Provides research-based data to contracted parties on potentially abusive COVID-19 related domain names.
• Domain Abuse Activity Reporting (DAAR) – Produces registry-level growth statistical reports through comparing TLD zone data with Reputation Block Lists (RBLs) security threat data feeds.

(iii) Enforce contractual provisions: Contractual and audit enforcements of DNS abuse related requirements in the Registry and Registrar agreements.

There is currently a lack of consensus definition on ‘DNS abuse’ within the ICANN community. ICANN org’s current initiatives revolve around DNS security threats, a subset of DNS abuse. This takes into consideration that ICANN Bylaws focus ICANN’s remit on the security and stability of the DNS and prohibit content regulation.

DNS security threats – identified by the GAC as phishing, malware, botnets, pharming, and spam (as a vector to deliver other threats) – are included within Specification 11, Section 3(b) of the gTLD Registry Agreement. These threats were also identified by ICANN contracted parties as DNS abuse.  

ICANN org will continue its mitigation work on DNS security threats. Some recent efforts include the completed Registrar Audit, expanding DNSTICR to other non-ASCII scripts, and enhancing DAAR to potentially include registrar-level data. In addition, ICANN org will continue to deepen the ICANN Board’s understanding of DNS abuse. The Program’s team will also consider regional-based discussions when conducting future webinars.

Community Discussion

Champika Wijayatunga (ICANN) responded to the following questions:

1. How can the community obtain the list of security threat domain names from the DAAR project for research purposes?

Response: DAAR data is received from RBL feeds, and Champika recommended for researchers to obtain the domain name list directly from RBLs (some at no cost, and others with procedural fees).

2. How can ccTLDs participate in DAAR?

Response: Interested ccTLDs should contact ICANN’s Global Support Team. Steps required include validating the DAAR request with the ccTLD’s technical and administrative contacts, and providing access to the monitoring system API (MoSAPI) containing monthly and daily reports. Champika encouraged more ccTLDs to join DAAR (more information on DAAR in its FAQ). 

3. What are the current challenges observed for the Program?

Response: Focusing on DAAR, Champika shared that in addition to a lack of registrar-level data, DAAR also faces other challenges such as the inability to provide access to bulk registration data as well as domain name feeds from RBLs.

4. How does ICANN plan to take this initiative to the next level?

Response: In addition to addressing current challenges, ICANN org is working on enhancing DAAR. This includes developing customized reports for DAAR participants, providing up-time of an identified threat, provisioning of malicious vs. compromised domain names, and publishing a methodology for RBL evaluations.

3. ICANN72 Planning Update — Tanzanica King, Meeting Strategy & Design Director, ICANN

ICANN72 will be the sixth fully virtual ICANN Meeting. For ICANN72, the ICANN Meetings Team initiated sessions planning with the global community in August 2021, and aimed to publish the final ICANN72 schedule on 4 October 2021.

ICANN72 Prep Week will be held from 12-14 October 2021, with its full schedule to be published on 27 September 2021. The ALAC will hold its working meetings and policy sessions prior to ICANN72 on the week of 18 October 2021, and session details would be posted on the At-Large Community Wiki.

ICANN72 will remain in the Seattle time zone (UTC-7). To avoid burnout, the Meeting duration was reduced to four days, scheduled for 25-28 October 2021. The block schedule was targeted to be finalized by 30 August 2021.  

ICANN72 will include “Constituency Day” sessions which were being planned with the different Stakeholder Groups (SGs), and tentatively one or two Plenary sessions. The ICANN72 Planning Group was reviewing proposed Plenary topics — four from the ALAC, and two from the GAC. Unselected topics could still be included in respective SG schedules. Currently, “How to Design Inclusive, Equitable Hybrid ICANN Meetings” topped the consideration list. Discussions on this topic would assist in preparing for future hybrid meetings, and provide an overall understanding of virtual improvements required should ICANN73 proceed without a physical element.  

Community Discussion

Heather shared her rationale for proposing this topic at APAC Space. Given the APAC region’s disadvantaged time zone for ICANN72 and ICANN73, receiving early updates would be helpful for the community’s preparation and strategic planning. She requested for Tanzanica to share similar planning updates at APAC Space for all future virtual/hybrid ICANN Meetings, to which Tanzanica agreed.

Heather also shared concerns about continued time zone challenges for APAC, as ICANN68 in June 2020 was the last ICANN Meeting with an APAC-friendly time. The next would be in September 2022 at ICANN75. Amrita agreed that several ICANN related meetings are often scheduled in non-APAC friendly time zones, and that community members need to balance their voluntary contributions with their day jobs.

Recognizing existing time zone and logistical challenges, Cheryl Langdon-Orr (ALAC) queried on how optimization could be achieved for fair and equitable participation. Tanzanica indicated that the ICANN72 Plenaries would likely be planned for different times (one in the morning and one in the evening) to cater for different time zones. She encouraged the community to follow information on ICANN’s website and to use available tools (e.g. meeting participation tool). She also welcomed any suggestions that would overcome the community’s challenges, adding that reduced ICANN Meeting durations would remain for hybrid Meetings in the near future.

Pam Little (GNSO) commended the improved speed in uploaded recordings from the last few virtual ICANN Meetings. She stated that this facilitates equitable access to information given unchangeable geographic and time zone constraints.

Pam further queried on the guidelines for proposing Plenaries, and urged that plenary discussions should aim to achieve output. Tanzanica shared that the Planning Group includes representation from each SO and AC, and there are no other limitations apart from basic guidelines such as ensuring the timeliness of topics in plenary proposals. A review form is used to gather preliminary views on the proposals, after which the Group decides on the topics through collaborative discussion. As a follow-up comment, Pam suggested that support/agreement from another SO/AC should be required for better screening of initial proposals.