The TLDCON 2025 program continues with a session called Research and Outcomes. InData’s Elena Voronina moderated the discussion as experts shared the latest domain industry research results.
Alun Davies from RIPE Labs demonstrated how RIPE Atlas can monitor the aftermath of underwater cable disruption in real time. A network of thousands of probes and anchors records latency and packet loss, providing a clear picture of how the internet responds to outages. Davies noted that global network resilience relies not only on “internet self-organization” but also on the actual deployment of multi-path routing and standby circuits. It takes continuous measurement and RIPE Atlas coverage extension to have a better understanding of internet vulnerabilities and factors that can improve the reliability of infrastructure.
Dmitry Kovalenko (МСК-IX) presented the outcome of a research into the localization of DNS traffic in Russia’s ccTLDs.RU and .РФ. The research shows that almost 90% of the DNS traffic from Russia is confined within the country, with only 6% being routed through European internet exchange points. Over 50% of this traffic is handled by DNS resolvers located within Russia. Interestingly, 46% of requests to servers of Russian national domain names originate from the United States, which primarily indicates a relatively high usage of Google as the search engine in Russia.
Vadim Mikhailov (Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ) spoke about ensuring the failsafe operation of the Russian national domain registration system in the past five years and ongoing works. Over the years, a data escrow system for the .RU/.РФ registries and a backup registration system have been established. Work is currently underway to develop an independent monitoring system. Its purpose is to monitor the core registration system services such as SRS, RDDS, DNS, DNSSEC and DataEscrow for compliance with SLA requirements.
Another report by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ concerned optimal methods for providing statistical data to domain name registrars. Coordination Center Project Director Olga Baskakova presented the website stat.cctld.ru for generating real-time reports for registrars showing a broad range of data on the status of Russia’s domain name industry.
Nikita Novikov (Technical Center of Internet) reported that TLS certificates is the basis of trust online but currently, over 99% of certificates in .RU, .РФ and .SU are issued by foreign centers while 82% of Runet websites rely on Let’s Encrypt. This concentration and short validity terms (certificates expire in 90 days) create risks for Russia’s digital sovereignty. Novikov noted the importance of developing national certification infrastructure and import substitution to lower the dependency and enhance security.
Other participants included Pavel Khramtsov (InData), Sofia Proklashkina and Pavel Yakubov (Bauman Moscow State Technical University, InData).
The first day of TLDCON 2025 rounded up with a session on professional training for registries and registrars, moderated by Irina Danelia (Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ). Session participants discussed cooperation between businesses and higher education institutions to develop training programs, including short workshops and bootcamps. They also addressed the shortage of workforce, successful industry training courses and joint study programs as well as strategies for fast-paced onboarding of young professionals, corporate mentorship programs and continuous professional development. Discussion participants exchanged effective mechanisms that enable companies to quickly acquire necessary expertise while allowing universities to guarantee employment for their graduates.
Anastasia Savelyeva (St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications) spoke about building cooperation between universities and potential employers using conventional and modern approaches. A new cooperation model called University 4.0 is currently in development to shape links between education, science and innovation.
Olga Dovnar (hoster.by) shared her experience in training domain industry professionals in Belarus. She noted that hoster.by succeeded in elevating the prestige of the profession among young people by creating a talent attraction and onboarding strategy that consisted of conventional methods like industry events, brand promotion and training but also less traditional tactics like gamification and corporate team building. “This complex approach combined with targeted vision produces the best outcome,” Olga Dovnar concluded.
Ilona Stadnik (autonomous non-profit organization Colaboratoria, Yandex Practicum) presented an interactive tutorial for universities that helps learn the most sought-after skills in IT, with training courses adapted to various specializations.
Other participants, Yevgeny Shelenkov (Bitrix24) and Alyona Gerashchenko (Higher School of Economics) also shared their experience in creating educational products for IT professionals.
The conference continues. Tune in to our online streams on the TLDCON 2025 website and VK.
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