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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has made Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) part of its cybersecurity assessment criteria for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in a move to strengthen the security of government digital infrastructure.
The agency also called for government websites using the .gov.ng domain to adopt DNSSEC, which uses digital signatures to help verify the authenticity of domain name records and protect against certain forms of cyberattacks.
NITDA Director General, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, disclosed the policy at a cybersecurity awareness webinar organised by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) through its .ng Academy on Monday.
The webinar, held as part of activities marking Cybersecurity Awareness Month, was themed “Securing Nigeria’s Digital Foundation: DNSSEC, the .ng Domain, and the Future of National Cyber Resilience”.
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NITDA to incorporate DNS into assessment
Represented by Oluwasegun Falayan, the NITDA chief said the agency would incorporate DNS security into its cybersecurity assessment framework, stressing that government institutions must secure their domain names rather than merely register them.
- “So we must lead, we must ensure that every .gov.ng is signed as much as possible, and we provide DNS as an inclusion in every security assessment that we do. So it’s not enough to just have a domain, but it must be secured and must be signed,” he said.
DNSSEC is a security extension to the Domain Name System (DNS), which translates domain names into the numerical addresses computers use to locate websites and online services.
It adds digital signatures that allow validating resolvers to verify whether DNS responses are authentic and have not been tampered with.
According to NiRA President, Adesola Akinsanya, the technology is an important layer of protection for Nigeria’s digital infrastructure, particularly as cyber threats continue to rise.
However, he cautioned that implementing DNSSEC without the necessary technical expertise could create new problems, including making websites inaccessible to users whose DNS resolvers validate signatures.
- “Our priority must therefore be competence, coordination and careful implementation, rather than adoption for its own sake,” Akinsanya said.
He explained that DNSSEC does not encrypt internet traffic, prevent distributed denial-of-service attacks or protect against compromised registrar credentials. It must therefore work alongside other cybersecurity measures to provide effective protection.
The NiRA president also stressed that securing the domain name layer requires cooperation among government agencies, internet service providers, domain registrars, businesses and cybersecurity professionals.
Nigeria faces rising cyber threats
Akinsanya cited cybersecurity and financial sector figures to highlight the economic implications of weak digital security.
According to figures he attributed to Check Point, the average Nigerian organisation faced about 4,361 attempted cyberattacks weekly in June, compared with a global average of approximately 2,270.
He also referenced Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) figures showing that digital payment fraud amounted to N25.85 billion in 2025, despite a decline in reported incidents.
Akinsanya cautioned that the reduction in reported incidents should not automatically be interpreted as improved security, noting that underreporting could distort the picture.
- “DNS security is not a technical hobby. It is an economic question,” he said.
He urged government institutions to review the security of their domain names, ensure that account access is properly controlled and activate multi factor authentication to reduce the risk of unauthorised changes.
DNSSEC on .ng domain
Nigeria officially unveiled the DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) on the .ng domain, in April this year inn a move aimed at strengthening the country’s digital infrastructure and cybersecurity framework.
The unveiling was carried out by Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the registry responsible for managing Nigeria’s country code top-level domain, .ng, during a media advocacy and capacity building workshop held in Lagos on Thursday.
The development placed Nigeria among countries adopting advanced technologies to secure their internet ecosystems, while reinforcing efforts to build a resilient and globally competitive digital economy.
