In the first week of March, South Africa experienced significant disruptions to its DNS (Domain Name System) infrastructure, affecting websites with the .za top-level domain (like co.za). The issues, which began around March 6, were linked to a DoS (Denial of ServiceS) attack targeting the country’s DNS servers, specifically those responsible for resolving the co.za domain.
Because of multiple redundant servers, the effect was not felt throughout the country at this time. The ZA Registry Consortium, which manages the country’s .za namespace, has confirmed the attack, and said that technical teams were working to investigate and mitigate the ongoing issues.
Last week, the attack overwhelmed DNS servers, preventing users from accessing co.za websites. The disruptions persisted intermittently over the course of the week, with additional issues reported on March 13, 2025. Affected DNS services included both public servers like OpenDNS and Google Public DNS.
Denial of Service attacks involve flooding a server with an excessive amount of traffic, causing it to become unresponsive to legitimate user requests. In this case, the targeted DNS servers struggled to process the high volume of traffic, leading to widespread outages.
While the ZA Registry Consortium worked swiftly to restore service, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities present in critical internet infrastructure. Experts emphasize the importance of strengthening security measures to prevent such cyber-attacks from disrupting essential online services.