Sierra Leone Restores 44 .sl Websites After Domain System Breach

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Communication, Technology and Innovation says unauthorized individuals accessed the international CoCCA domain management system on September 25, affecting 44 website addresses registered under the country’s .sl national internet domain.

The affected addresses belonged to Government institutions, private businesses and other organisations. The Ministry said one Government website and several commercial websites were among those affected.

Incident contained on the same day

According to the Government, the incident was detected and contained on the day it occurred. All 44 affected website addresses were restored to their correct configurations within hours.

The unauthorized access created a potential risk that visitors could be redirected from legitimate websites to fraudulent platforms controlled by cybercriminals. However, the available information does not establish that users were actually redirected.

Following the discovery, immediate security measures were put in place to block further unauthorized access, remove the identified threat and strengthen safeguards around the affected domain management infrastructure.

Part of wider international breach

The Ministry described the incident as part of a broader international cybersecurity breach involving CoCCA, an international platform used to administer internet domain names. It said Sierra Leone was among several countries affected by attacks involving the same infrastructure.

The Ministry cited a Google security report published on October 6, 2026. Ghana and American Samoa were identified as other affected locations in the report cited by the Ministry, although the total number of countries involved was not provided.

Investigations continue

A subsequent security assessment found no evidence of continuing unauthorized access as of October 8, according to the Ministry. Investigations are nevertheless continuing into how the attackers obtained access and whether other vulnerabilities could expose Sierra Leone’s digital infrastructure to future attacks.

The Ministry said it is working with local and international partners to monitor the system and assess emerging security risks. It also said additional safeguards would be introduced to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents.

The Government reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the country’s digital infrastructure and maintaining a secure and reliable national domain system. Officials said the public would be informed of significant developments arising from the ongoing investigations.