The Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has urged government agencies, businesses and internet service providers to adopt Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) to protect websites against cyber threats.

NiRA President, Mr Adesola Akinsanya, made the call on Monday at a cybersecurity awareness webinar organised by the association.

The webinar had the theme, “Securing Nigeria’s Digital Foundation: DNSSEC, the .ng Domain, and the Future of National Cyber Resilience”.

DNSSEC is a security system that helps ensure internet users are directed to genuine websites rather than fake ones.

Akinsanya said Nigeria had made progress by signing the .ng domain zone, but wider adoption of DNSSEC across the domain ecosystem remained a major challenge.

He explained that DNSSEC used digital signatures to verify the authenticity and integrity of information directing internet users to websites.

He added that the technology reduces the risk of attackers manipulating domain records to redirect users to fraudulent websites.

Akinsanya said securing Nigeria’s digital infrastructure required coordinated efforts by domain registrars, internet service providers, government institutions, businesses and cybersecurity professionals.

“The .ng zone is signed, but DNSSEC support among domain registrars remains limited.

“This creates a gap between the security established at the registry level and its adoption across the wider domain ecosystem,” he said.

Akinsanya added that DNSSEC provided an important layer of protection but could not independently prevent all cyberattacks.

He called for stronger infrastructure, continuous monitoring, technical training and tested recovery systems to keep websites and online services secure and available.

The NiRA president urged government agencies to review access to their domain accounts, activate multi-factor authentication and establish clear procedures for responding to unauthorised changes to domain records.

He also urged internet service providers to activate DNSSEC validation and keep their systems updated.

He advised businesses to verify whether their domain names were properly secured.

Akinsanya said the growth of Nigeria’s .ng domain namespace must go hand in hand with security and reliability.

“A .ng that is unsafe or unreliable is worse than none. Growth and trust must travel together, and no part of our 30 per cent growth aim will be pursued at the expense of security,” he said.

He commended the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and MTN Nigeria for collaborating to advance DNSSEC validation.

Akinsanya said MTN had implemented validation across its resolver infrastructure following engagements with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

He said the experience demonstrated the importance of sustained collaboration among regulators, industry players and technical stakeholders in strengthening Nigeria’s digital infrastructure.

Earlier, NiRA Executive Board member, Mr Ahmad Mukoshy, said DNSSEC used cryptographic signatures and a chain of trust to enable validating resolvers to detect alterations to Domain Name System (DNS) information.

Mukoshy said NiRA had taken an important step in February by implementing DNSSEC at the registry level, providing a foundation for wider deployment across individual domain names.

He said domain owners, registrars and other operators needed to extend the protection to their respective systems.

Mukoshy identified DNSSEC adoption, infrastructure redundancy, continuous monitoring and incident recovery as four complementary requirements for a resilient national DNS ecosystem.

He also called for regular key management, technical capacity development and greater awareness among website developers to ensure proper implementation and maintenance of DNSSEC.