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Baltic Domain Days 2026: Security, Trust and the Future of the DNS

This year, the event formed a dedicated track within CyberChess 2026, connecting domain-industry discussions more directly with the wider questions of cybersecurity and internet resilience. The program was developed jointly by the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian domain registries, with international partners and speakers adding a wider European and global perspective.

One theme ran through almost every session: the domain industry is becoming more closely connected to security, regulation and digital trust. Registries are no longer discussing only registration volumes and technical DNS operations. Increasingly, they need to think about abuse prevention, identity verification, AI, regulation, intellectual property and the expectations users have of a trusted online environment.

What is changing in the European domain market?

The first day opened with a look at the latest trends in the European ccTLD market, followed by discussions between Baltic and other European registries about where cooperation can create more value.

One of the clearest messages from the market overview done by CENTR was that European ccTLD growth has returned strongly. CENTR data showed that the median 12-month growth rate among 30 European ccTLDs had reached 4.7% by September 2026, rising from close to zero within roughly a year. Remarkably, this puts growth almost back at the levels seen during the COVID-era domain boom, when the median growth rate peaked at 4.8% in spring 2021. The figures suggest that national domains are once again gaining momentum after several years of slower post-pandemic growth.

The Baltic market also stands out in the wider European picture. CENTR members collectively manage around 71.1 million domains, while the three Baltic ccTLDs account for approximately 625,000 domains. Estonia performs especially strongly when registrations are compared with population size: .ee has 11.4 locally registered domains per 100 people, clearly above the EU median of 8.2. Lithuania follows with 7.7 .lt domains per 100 people, while Latvia has 6.2 .lv domains per 100 people. This makes Estonia the strongest Baltic market by domain penetration and shows how firmly the national domain has become embedded in the local digital economy.

Taken together, the numbers point to a wider shift in the domain market. After a period of near-stagnation following the pandemic boom, demand for national domains is accelerating again. For the Baltic registries, this creates a favourable market environment, but also raises new questions around how to convert renewed demand into long-term use, stronger digital identities and secure online services. Estonia’s particularly high domain penetration suggests that .ee already plays a comparatively strong role in how businesses and individuals establish themselves online.

Representatives from .ee, .lt, .lv, .si and .nl explored how country-code registries can learn from each other when dealing with infrastructure, cybersecurity, DNS abuse and changing market conditions. The underlying question was simple but important: how can registries remain locally relevant while facing increasingly similar challenges across Europe?

Research and data also played an important role. The CENTR R&D session looked at how collaborative research can help registries identify emerging technologies and operational trends. OpenIntel demonstrated how large-scale measurements of TLD zones can provide insights into technical capabilities and allow registries to benchmark themselves against others. 

How much verification is enough?

The second day moved strongly toward security, resilience and regulation. One of the central topics was the impact of the NIS2 Directive on ccTLDs and domain registration. A dedicated panel examined registrant data verification and the difficult balance between stronger security and keeping domain registration simple and accessible.

Verification sounds straightforward in theory, but it becomes much more complicated when dealing with foreign registrants, automated bulk registrations and the relationship between NIS2 requirements and GDPR. Representatives from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany discussed how the industry can improve data quality without creating unnecessary barriers for legitimate users. It’s important to note that .ee registry with its own eeID electronic identification service is one of the good examples on how domain registries and their experiences can contribute to the industry as a whole.

From reacting to abuse to preventing it

DNS abuse was another major focus. Punktum dk presented its approach to actively monitoring misuse of .dk domain names and notifying registrants and hosting providers when abuse is detected. According to the programme, this approach has helped reduce abuse in the Danish domain space. 

This reflects a broader change in the industry. The question is increasingly not only how quickly a malicious domain can be removed after a report arrives, but whether suspicious behaviour can be detected earlier and whether registries, registrars, hosting providers and authorities can cooperate more effectively before greater damage is done.

For ccTLDs, this also raises an important question about their role. How active should a registry be in monitoring and protecting its domain space, and where should the limits of that role lie?

The closing part of Baltic Domain Days brought the discussions together around perhaps the most fundamental question of all: what will make a domain or online service trustworthy in the future? The panel looked beyond technical security alone. By 2030, trust may increasingly depend on accurate data, transparency, reputation, resilience and responsible use of AI. The discussion was framed around three tensions: verified identity versus trustworthy behaviour, human trust versus machine trust, and protection versus overreach. 

The final discussion between the leaders of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian registries then returned to the regional perspective: what should Baltic registries prepare for next, where does closer cooperation make sense, and where might national approaches continue to differ? 

Baltic Domain Days 2026 showed just how broad the domain industry has become. DNS infrastructure remains at its core, but the surrounding questions now reach far beyond technology. Security, identity, AI, regulation, governance and trust are increasingly part of the same conversation.

For the Baltic registries, that creates both a challenge and an opportunity: to keep their national domain spaces simple and accessible while making them safer, more resilient and ready for the next generation of the internet. 

See you next year in Lithuania!