Building a more secure DNS: Netnod supports DNS security hackathon in Serbia
The hackathon, held 31 October - 1 November 2026, attracted strong interest from students and young technical professionals. A total of 57 teams applied, representing more than 200 potential participants. Following preparatory webinars and a review of 33 project proposals, ten teams were selected to take part in the final 24-hour competition.
The event gave participants the opportunity to develop and test their ideas with support from experienced DNS engineers. Netnod's Tor Arvill, Ian Fredriksson and Joel Söderman contributed to the planning and were on site in Belgrade to mentor participants and judge the final projects alongside experts from the other partner organisations.
Practical solutions to DNS security challenges
The winning team, Dogma, comprised three second-year students from Belgrade's Faculty of Computing. Their project, hijackscan, identifies domains where BGP hijacking could enable the unauthorised issuance of digital certificates. The tool assesses the associated risks and recommends protective measures.
Second place went to The Penguins of Madagascar, whose DNSSEC FlightCheck tool helps operators identify potential problems when changing DNSSEC keys. By checking whether planned changes could make a domain unavailable, the tool aims to support safer key management.
Third place was awarded to NXDOMAIN for SplitTrust, a solution designed to check whether a domain registrant has authorised the use of a private DNS resolver and to prevent false DNS responses from being accepted on untrusted networks.
The standard was high across all participating teams with projects tackling real-world challenges faced by DNS registries and operators. These included preventing registrar account hijacking, making DNSSEC key rollovers safer, improving transparency around DNSSEC key changes, increasing DNSSEC adoption and developing an early implementation of a newly published RFC. The projects demonstrated both the technical skills of the participants and the value of bringing young engineers together with experienced Internet infrastructure experts to address practical security challenges.
As Ulrich Wisser, Technical Engagement Manager at ICANN, puts it:
“The DNS SEC(urity) Hackathon proved that the best defense against tomorrow's DNS threats may already be sitting in a Belgrade classroom, caffeinated and ready to ship.”
Continuing Netnod's support for DNS hackathons
Netnod has a long history of supporting collaborative technical initiatives that contribute to the development of a more secure and resilient Internet.
In May 2023, Netnod co-hosted a DNS Hackathon in Rotterdam with RIPE NCC and DNS-OARC, bringing together 46 participants to work on projects addressing DNS security, privacy, sustainability and technical development.
In March 2025, Netnod again partnered with RIPE NCC and DNS-OARC to host a DNS Hackathon at its offices in Stockholm. More than 30 participants worked across seven project teams, exploring topics ranging from DNS resolver behaviour and monitoring to new approaches to DNS management.
These events provide a space where experienced operators, researchers, developers and newcomers can exchange knowledge, experiment with new approaches and develop ideas that contribute to future DNS improvements.
Working together for a more resilient DNS
An important challenge for the DNS community is ensuring that the next generation of engineers develops the skills and expertise needed to maintain and improve this critical infrastructure. DNS is not widely covered in IT courses and the community of specialists remains small.
As Dijana Milutinović, Communications Manager at RNIDS, the organisers of the hackathon, explains:
“DNS and its security receive relatively little attention in formal education, so we designed the event as a learning process giving young IT professionals an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills they might not otherwise gain during their studies. We wanted to raise awareness of DNS security and equip participants with skills they could use in their future careers ultimately helping to make the Internet more secure for everyone.”
Initiatives such as the Belgrade hackathon are particularly valuable because they introduce young people to DNS early in their careers giving them the opportunity to tackle real technical problems with guidance from experienced experts.
Developing the next generation of DNS specialists is a shared responsibility and we all have a role to play. The Belgrade hackathon demonstrated the value of this collaboration. We congratulate the winning teams and thank RNIDS, ICANN, RIPE NCC, the Faculty of Computing in Belgrade and everyone who contributed to making the Belgrade DNS hackathon such a success.
You can read more about the hackathon on the RNIDS website here: https://www.rnids.rs/en/news/faculty-of-computing-students-win-the-dns-security-hackathon
More information about Netnod’s DNS services is available here: https://www.netnod.se/dn
