At ICANN87 in Bali on Oct 19, ICANN's Input Group on Law Enforcement Agency Authentication Mechanisms gave an update on a proof of concept for authenticating law enforcement officers who request non-public gTLD registration data (the details hidden from WHOIS) through the Registration Data Request Service (RDRS). It also showed wireframes of the proposed request flow. The aim is to let registrars trust that an urgent request really comes from a verified officer. Under ICANN's Registration Data Policy, urgent requests are limited to an imminent threat to life, serious bodily injury, threats to critical infrastructure, or child exploitation, and registrars must answer them within 24 hours. ICANN says it is working with INTERPOL and the FBI and is looking at how INTERPOL's Global Digital Police Identity platform and the FBI's Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal could connect to RDRS. The Register reports SAML-based sign-in is the preferred approach. ICANN's timeline puts proof-of-concept testing in December 2026 and a summary of findings in March 2027.

The group is technical only. It won't set policy or decide registrars' disclosure obligations, which stay with ICANN's policy bodies. Registrars can still turn down requests that don't meet the urgency bar. For defenders and IR teams, the payoff would be faster, trusted contact with registrars when a domain is serving malware, C2 or phishing that rises to those thresholds. Ordinary abuse reports aren't covered.