Intercontinental Trust

Background

Identified as one of the best-prepared countries globally when it comes to dealing with cybercrime, and ranking first in Africa in the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), Mauritius has established itself as an ICT leader on the continent.

Although the government is pushing ahead with the Digital Mauritius 2030 Strategic Plan to expand the digital economy and improve cyber threat preparedness, security experts predict that cybercrime will increase nonetheless.

Mauritius-based financial and fiduciary services provider, Intercontinental Trust Limited (ITL), has prioritised information security, to protect its clients’ information and assets and to curb the influx of spam and phishing emails that threatened organisational resilience.

Our clients expect us to comply with global security best practices. They want reassurance that information security is considered and addressed in all aspects of our business operations, products, and services.”

Abhijeet Keenoo - Head of Information Security, Data Protection, Governance, Risk & Compliance, ITL

Evolving Email Security Threats

Based in the Mauritian financial capital of Ebene, with teams in Singapore, Seychelles, South Africa, and Kenya, ITL serves a diversified client base comprising financial institutions, private equity firms, real estate multinationals, investment managers, and high-net worth individuals.

The company has played an instrumental role in positioning Mauritius as an attractive and business-friendly jurisdiction for structuring, listing, and capital-raising purposes. But this makes the country just as attractive to cybercriminals, who are increasingly targeting businesses through phishing and social engineering attacks.

With access to sensitive financial, company, and personal information, ITL was concerned that its incumbent email security solution could not keep up with the constantly evolving threat landscape. Spam and phishing emails were still making their way into corporate mailboxes, creating potential business risks.

“Our clients expect us to comply with global security best practices. They want reassurance that information security is considered and addressed in all aspects of our business operations, products, and services,” says Abhijeet Keenoo, Head of Information Security, Data Protection, Governance, Risk & Compliance at ITL.“With so many phishing mails getting through to our corporate environment, it became clear that we had to strengthen our line of defence, to prevent the business from losing corporate data and money to hackers, in the event of falling victim to various types of cyberattacks.”

Abhijeet’s top priority was to bolster security on ITL’s cloud email infrastructure with an advanced email protection service.

Advanced Phishing Protection

Intercontinental Trust Limited considered additional incumbent cloud-based advanced threat protection services but was swayed to add an independent second layer of defence by the positive reviews and performance of Mimecast.

Introduced via Grove, an elite Mimecast reseller and partner in Mauritius, the company signed up for a one-month trial of Mimecast’s advanced email security service, which includes Targeted Threat Protection. This helps defend organisations from advanced email-borne threats, including impersonation attempts, malicious URLs and attachments, spam, and viruses.

During the trial, ITL noted a significant decrease in the number of spam emails entering the network.

My advice for other companies facing similar challenges would be to strongly consider a second line of defence with Mimecast as it’s a first-choice, value for money, comprehensive email security and robust solution.”

Abhijeet Keenoo - Head of Information Security, Data Protection, Governance, Risk & Compliance, ITL

“We knew our email threats were only going to increase over the coming years, which is why we signed a three-year partnership agreement with Grove, which has a strong reputation in the local market,” says Abhijeet. 

“The Grove team, especially Chad Bartlett and Scott Murry, helped to define the value proposition as well as the best practice deployment of the Mimecast solution. The level of cybersecurity for email knowledge and 24/7 support received from Grove is unmatched and our relationship continues to grow positively.”

“I obtained buy-in from the different business unit stakeholders to bring in Mimecast and to trust the solution until the learning process and fine-tuning of the service was completed,” says Abhijeet. “I’m glad I did because, three months into using the solution, no one misses the spam!”

“It took some time to get used to the platform, and a few months tailoring the solution to suit our environment, but telling senior management that 95% of our email problems had been solved and that the solution was running effectively was a standout moment for me – especially after making a three-year commitment with Grove and Mimecast.”

“Now we are confident that both the company’s and client data is secure as possible, we can continue working productively for our clients. My advice to other companies facing similar challenges would be to strongly consider a second line of defence with Mimecast, as it’s a first-choice, value for money, comprehensive email security and robust solution.”