Inside CIRA: How Canada's .ca Registry Became a Global DNS & Cybersecurity Force

Jim Love

16 May 2026

David Shipley interviews Jon Ferguson, VP at CIRA, about how the Canadian Internet Registration Authority evolved from early paper-based .ca registrations at UBC into a 142-person, member-based not-for-profit running .ca and authoritative Anycast DNS infrastructure now supporting 550+ TLDs globally. Ferguson explains how .ca's Canadian presence requirements help keep abuse rates low, and how CIRA reinvests surpluses into grants and cybersecurity tools, including Canadian Shield (DNS-based malware/phishing blocking and encrypted DNS with limited data retention) used by about 500,000 people and generating about 20 million blocks per month. They discuss CIRA's focus on municipalities, schools, hospitals, and universities, its move into endpoint security and a managed detection and response partner program with Calian, and concerns about AI-driven threats, online harm, and rebuilding trust and real-world connection. 00:00 Weekend Show Kickoff 01:30 Jon's Cyber Journey 03:06 Inside CIRA DNS Role 04:59 What Is CIRA 07:23 Origin Story Of Dot Ca 13:01 Anycast DNS Explained 16:27 Canadian Shield DNS Firewall 22:21 Serving Public Sector Needs 26:18 Endpoint And MDR Expansion 35:05 Mission Over Money 40:39 What Keeps Him Up 46:19 Hope And Balance Online 50:55 Wrap Up And Thanks