[ICANN]<http://www.icann.org/> News Alert https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2015-04-07-en ________________________________ WSIS Project Prizes 2015 Nomination 7 April 2015 Two ICANN projects, the DNS Entrepreneurship Center and Investigating DNS Abuse/Misuse for Public Safety Community have been nominated for the Online Voting Phase of the WSIS Project Prizes 2015 contest. Information on the nominated projects can be found here<http://groups.itu.int/stocktaking/WSISProjectPrizes.aspx#nominated-projects>. The deadline for submitting your votes is 1 May 2015 (23:00 Geneva time). Click here<http://groups.itu.int/stocktaking/WSISProjectPrizes.aspx#vote> to cast your vote today! PROJECTS' BACKGROUND INFORMATION DNS Entrepreneurship Center The establishment of a regional DNS Entrepreneurship Centre (DNS-EC) in Cairo announced<https://www.icann.org/resources/press-material/release-2-2014-06-23-en> last year was established to serve communities in Africa and the Middle East. The Centre aims to contribute to the evolution of the domain name sector in Africa and the Middle East by developing and providing expertise in DNS technical, policy and entrepreneurial areas, as well as providing resources to support the implementation of initiatives and projects in this field. The project will be implemented in three phases - Foundation (1 July 2014-30 June 2015), Launch (1 July 2015-30 June 2017) and Operation (On-going). The aim is for the DNS-EC to become an independent entity serving Africa and the Middle East by the end of Phase I - 30 June 2015. Investigating DNS Abuse/Misuse for Public Safety Community At the request of Public Safety Communities who participate in ICANN policy development, ICANN in the past few years began developing a capability building program designed to assist investigators in understanding how criminals use the domain name system (DNS) and registration services in malicious or illegal activities, and how to gather information/evidence of these abuses. This workshop exposes attendees to strategies, techniques and tools that information security professionals use to identify abuses of the Domain Name System (DNS), malicious registrations of domain names, addresses or hosting. Through a combination of lecture, demonstration, and hands-on exercises, attendees will learn how to collect information that will be needed to further investigate criminal activity. Additional information about the WSIS Project Prizes can be found here<http://groups.itu.int/stocktaking/WSISProjectPrizes.aspx#about>.