Tag: POPIA

The enterprise Goliath is worried about its suppliers. These Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are underprepared. They are also disproportionately targeted. In fact, 43% of cyber-attacks target their digital front door. In addition, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) holds large organisations legally responsible when a supplier is breached.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly moving from experimentation to execution within South African organisations. Organisations increasingly embed AI agents across business functions, including finance, customer service, IT and operations. However, a significant governance concern is emerging.

EssilorLuxottica and Meta sold more than seven million Ray-Ban and Oakley-branded smart glasses in 2025. Sales of these intelligent wearables increased almost threefold compared with 2023. As a result, the category moved into the mainstream.

South African organisations are moving quickly from Artificial Intelligence (AI) experimentation to deployment. The latest South African Generative AI Roadmap 2025 highlights this shift. It found that 67% of respondents reported current GenAI adoption. This figure is up from 45% in 2024. Therefore, organisations are moving from planning to active use.

The cybersecurity landscape is rapidly changing, with hackers increasingly utilising Artificial Intelligence (AI) to carry out sophisticated attacks on their targets. To defend against these AI-driven threats, organisations must adopt data protection solutions that harness AI, essentially “fighting fire with fire”. This is the foundation of using AI to protect data from cybercriminals.

Australia’s decision to ban children under 16 from social media, with Denmark eyeing similar measures for under-15s, has reignited a global debate about children, technology and harm. The political appeal is obvious: draw a clear line, claim protection and move on. But from a South African legal and policy perspective, this approach is both insufficient and misdirected. It treats children as the problem, rather than the digital systems that systematically fail them.

Knowing who the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) of an entity is before engaging in any type of business deal, is a critical task that is often overlooked. This is particularly true in today’s increasingly stringent regulatory environment, in which organisations are increasingly expected to understand who they are doing business with to help fight fraud.

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) officially came into force on 25 May, followed by its local cousin, POPIA in the second or third quarter of the year. You may be feeling this already – who hasn’t received a flood of Privacy Policy and Data Protection Policy updates from around the world. Both GDPR and POPIA are set to dramatically change the way South African organisations do business – especially how personal data is handled and stored.

Data compliance is an important facet of any business today. For insurers who rely on customer data for product distribution and innovative development of better solutions, meeting the requirements of this regulation is critical. 

There is a buzz about data protection and privacy. South African companies who have customers in the European Union who have been asked to 'comply' with the European Union General Data Protection Regulations (EU GDPR), will find the legislation is comprehensive (and scary) and is due to be implemented in May 2018.