Guaranteed Support: We have a local
presence and this means there's constant
communication between registrars and
registrants to make sure they are enjoying
their online presence. Our customer care
team is readily available to attend to any
matters arising.
How does KeNIC benefit the
Community?
Economic benefit to Domain Name
System (DNS) Ecosystem: As mentioned
above, in our value chain are registrars
who buy domains in bulk from the
registry to sell to registrants. We have
over 200 registrars
who in turn have a large workforce under
them that includes resellers. Most of
the resellers are young people who sale
domains to generate some extra income.
Entrepreneurship: One of KeNIC’s
mandate is to contribute to the Kenyan
economy, we do this by providing income
sources to many young people and small
businesses through the .KE reseller
program. The reseller program is an
initiative aimed at ensuring convenient
access to .KE products, through
collaboration with resellers countrywide.
A reseller can either be an individual
or a company that registers domains on
behalf of a registrar. To Sign up all you
have to do is to get attached to a KeNIC
accredited registrar.
Training Programs: KeNIC runs DNS/
Domain Name System Security training
for registrars and resellers, there are
plans to make this training available to
those who may be interested besides the
registrars. In addition, KeNIC through
various partnerships has trained a number
of SMEs on how to take their businesses
online and expand their market reach.
CSR Program: Through various
partnerships KeNIC has supported
businesses by donating domains to
transform and help get their operations
online.
Technology: We provide a service that
makes online connections easier through
leveraging technology to improve on
delivery of products and services online.
Internships: We offer internships that
provide graduates with on the job training
and helps them gain valuable working
experience.
How do I register a domain?
What are your plans for a
rollout to the mass market?
.KE domain names are registered through
KeNIC accredited Registrars. You can
register a domain name for up to 5 years
and set-auto renewals with the registrar
to ensure your domain remains active.
Domains are available for all individuals
and entities that wish to register a .KE
domain. We recruit Resellers countrywide
through partnerships with incubation
hubs and innovation centers. Our aim
is to have accredited Registrars in every
county across the country.
What are you doing to
actualize your dream to
have every organization and
individual on .KE by 2030?
Some of the strategies we have put in place
include forging strategic partnerships
with like-minded organization to grow
the uptake of .KE, creating awareness
on the importance of organizations and
individuals having professional email
addresses, we also work to ensure we
meet the highest satisfaction standards in
customer service to maintain our existing
clientele and continuously look for ways
to innovate and develop new products
to build trust in the .KE domain name.
In addition, we have increased internal
operational efficiency by maintaining a
99% uptime and ensuring that we get on
board highly competent staff to help us
achieve this vision.
Looking at the current
uptake in the country, do
you feel you are on track
in achieving the projected
vision? Comment on the
level of uptake of .KE in
relation to other developed
countries?
KeNIC has made great progress, we are
third to South Africa and Nigeria in terms
of the number of domains registered. Our
domain numbers are well over 100,000, if
we implement all the strategies envisioned
we will be on track to achieve our mission.
What key challenges do you
face as an organization in
fulfilling your set goals?
Like any corporate we have numerous
challenges that we navigate through
but the key ones for us are Domain
Deletions; Lack of consumer education
on the importance of having a personal
domain name; Stiff competition from free
marketing platforms like social media; and
Poor perception of .KE brand - as being a
local domain with no global reach.
Cybercrime has grown in
leaps and bounds with
the growth of internet
penetration in Kenya. How
is KeNIC lending hand in
mitigating this?
KeNIC is working closely with
Communications Authority through The
National Kenya Computer Incidence
Response Team (KE-CIRT) which
provides assistance in implementing
proactive measures to reduce risks of
computer security.
In addition, KeNIC assists in cyber
security by securing the .KE domains and
DNS infrastructure. There are various
threats to DNS including: server crashes,
server compromise, denial of service
attacks, amplification attacks, cache
poisoning and targeted host attacks using
zone information.
We have set up disaster recovery sites,
online secured (SSL) Registry system,
backend database backup and redundancy
and have implemented a secure network
and DNS Firewalls/DNSSEC.
What measures have you
put in place to ensure brand
protection and eliminate
domain theft?
At registry level, we have secured all zone
levels and we sensitize all our accredited
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