Data breach is defined as the release of information that is supposed to be secure, to the public, either intentionally or unintentionally. In 2015 alone, innumerable data breaches have occurred, with every type of organisation – from the IRS to Anthem, eBay, Home Depot and Target (World’s Biggest Data Breaches in 2015) – being at risk. According to CRN, devastating breaches have already occurred throughout 2015.
The British Data Protection Act sets out particular rights and duties that businesses must follow when storing and processing personal information. While some limited exemptions exist, these are not blanket exemptions and ignorance of where the exemption ends and the duties begin will not remove the consequences of contravention.
THE PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION IN SOUTH AFRICA The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) strives to promote the protection of information processed and/or published by private and public bodies. This is essential to protect the rights entrenched in the Bill of Rights, in accordance with international standards. The Act was signed by the President […]
To ensure that companies do not infringe on data privacy laws and rights, they must first know what the term “data privacy” actually means. In the realm of information technology (IT), data privacy regulates whether data that is being stored on a computer system may be shared with third parties, and, if so, what part of the data may be shared.
In South Africa, data privacy was originally regulated by the common law and data was protected by the constitutional right to privacy. Additional legislation, such as the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA), for example, provided further regulations and requirements for the management of data and its privacy.