Cyber Security Act 2021 Compliance

Anti-Fraud & Phishing Protection

Barakat helps banks and transaction-heavy organisations harden business email, block phishing infrastructure, test staff response, and monitor suspicious financial activity in a way that supports Sections 41-42 of Sierra Leone's Cyber Security and Crime Act, 2021, reflects the harmful-message risk addressed in Section 44, and reduces the brand and domain abuse exposure addressed in Section 45.

Overview Email Security DNS Filtering Phishing Simulation Insider Monitoring

Legal anchor

Section 41 of Sierra Leone's Cyber Security and Crime Act, 2021 addresses computer-related fraud where data, programs, or system functioning are manipulated dishonestly to procure economic benefit. Section 42 is especially important for financial institutions because it addresses identity theft and phishing committed by persons engaged in their services using special knowledge, and it also covers fraudulent use of electronic signatures, passwords, and other unique identification features, as well as impersonation for gain or to cause disadvantage.

Section 45 addresses cybersquatting and unauthorised use of names, trademarks, and domain names to interfere with the rightful owner, which makes domain monitoring and typo-squatting controls commercially relevant. Section 44 is broader than fraud control, but it also covers false or harmful electronic messages; in practice, that reinforces the need to reduce malicious messaging and impersonation campaigns before they damage customers, staff, or the organisation's reputation. This engagement focuses on trusted email delivery, phishing-domain blocking, staff testing, and anomaly monitoring around financial abuse.

Best for

Banks Microfinance Mobile Money Operators Insurance Companies Transaction-Heavy Organisations

Best suited to organisations where fraudulent payment instructions, supplier impersonation, fake login pages, privileged account abuse, or customer-facing phishing can create immediate financial and reputational damage.

Deliverables

Email security configuration
DNS filtering
Quarterly phishing simulation reports
Annual fraud risk assessment
Insider anomaly alert setup

Control focus

SPF, DKIM, DMARC, email gateway controls, and executive anti-impersonation rules
DNS filtering and block lists for phishing domains, fake banking sites, and lookalike brand domains
Quarterly phishing simulations with targeted retraining and management reporting
Insider-threat alerts for abnormal access, approvals, and bulk data activity in sensitive financial systems

Email Security

Make fraudulent email harder to land and harder to trust

Many fraud incidents still begin with a message that looks legitimate enough to trigger payment, credential entry, or account compromise. We harden the organisation's email environment so malicious messages are blocked earlier and impersonation attempts are easier to detect before staff act on them.

Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC on the business domain so receiving systems can better verify whether email claiming to come from the organisation should be trusted

Deploy an email security gateway such as Microsoft Defender, Proofpoint, or Mimecast to scan inbound email for phishing, spoofing, and other malicious content

Enable anti-impersonation rules that flag messages pretending to come from the CEO, CFO, finance approvers, known suppliers, or other high-trust identities

Placeholder illustration for business email hardening and anti-impersonation controls

DNS Filtering

Block fake banking and phishing destinations before users reach them

Even where email filtering improves, users can still reach phishing pages, fake banking portals, and other malicious destinations by clicking links or typing lookalike domains. We add DNS-layer controls so those destinations are blocked earlier and logged for follow-up.

Configure Cloudflare Gateway or an equivalent DNS security platform to block known phishing domains, fake banking sites, and other malicious destinations

Create custom block lists for typo-squatted or lookalike domains that mimic the client's brand, executives, products, or trusted payment counterparties

Enable DNS logging that helps investigations show which users or sites attempted to reach risky domains and where more user education or tighter controls are needed

Placeholder illustration for phishing-domain blocking and DNS-layer security

Phishing Simulation

Measure who clicks, who reports, and where awareness still fails

Fraud awareness becomes more credible when it is tested against realistic scenarios instead of assumed. We run controlled simulations so management can see which teams still fall for payment scams, credential lures, and impersonation messages, and where immediate retraining is needed.

Run controlled phishing campaigns using tools such as GoPhish or KnowBe4 and track who clicked, who entered credentials, and who reported the attempt correctly

Enroll the staff who clicked or submitted credentials into immediate targeted training so the simulation produces behaviour change instead of just another statistic

Run the exercises quarterly and report click rates, reporting rates, and trend improvement to management so leadership can see whether fraud resilience is actually improving over time

Placeholder illustration for phishing simulations and fraud-awareness testing

Insider Threat Monitoring

Watch for the financial activity patterns that should never look normal

Not every fraud event starts outside the organisation. In financial environments, unusual use of privileged access, abnormal approval behaviour, and large data movement can be early indicators that deserve immediate attention. We configure monitoring so suspicious patterns surface sooner and can be reviewed before the damage grows.

Configure SIEM or equivalent alerts for anomalous activity such as a teller accessing far more accounts than normal, approvals outside business hours, or repeated access to sensitive payment functions

Monitor for bulk exports or unusual data movement from core banking, insurance, finance, or customer-account systems where fraud or insider abuse would have the highest impact

Leave the organisation with alert logic, response pathways, and an annual fraud risk assessment that gives management a clearer picture of where controls still need strengthening

Deliverables: Email security configuration, DNS filtering, quarterly phishing simulation reports, annual fraud risk assessment, and insider anomaly alert setup.

Urgency: If a fake payment request, a spoofed executive email, or abnormal insider access could still move money or sensitive customer data today, the fraud-control gap should be closed before the next incident makes it visible.

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