Tag: Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI)

As we journey through life – from our first jobs to marriage and children, retirement and planning your estate – it is essential to have a certified financial planner. They can guide us through every stage in life, helping us to save enough and leave a legacy for our loved ones.

The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) is a crucial statute for organisations to get right. Not only because the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is all about data and information but also because a breach of the POPI Act could result in imprisonment and fines.

Many companies that experienced delivery delays due to disrupted supply chains, have now received their IT equipment upgrades for 2020. This means there is an abundance of redundant electronics ready for disposal. Scrapping storeroom bound computers without proper consideration for data protection processes and regulations, or the proper elimination of data, could be disastrous for any company.

The paper details competition and regulatory issues in the South African digital economy and sets out the Commission's intended strategic actions in relation to competition law issues, and proposed strategic actions for other regulators to consider concerning their respective regulatory areas, namely telecommunication and broadcasting, data protection and financial services regulators.

With the range of digital communication channels now available, the question of whether or not e-mail will become obsolete is relevant – but ICT and digital professionals believe that email will always continue to serve as a fast, simple, efficient and accurate means of communication.

In mid-August 2020, approximately 23.4 million South Africans' personal information was compromised. The data breach was announced by Experian South Africa on 19 August 2020. Correctly, Experian issued a notification to the Information Regulator, but is this enough? Experian stated that 'no consumer credit or consumer financial information was obtained', but what information was then the subject of the breach?

In the modern world, data is regarded as the lifeblood of an organisation. Consequently, cyber threats have taught us that a reactive response to a data breach, regardless of the magnitude of the event, is no longer adequate. All data is important, therefore a more modern and innovative approach needs to be adopted to keeping it safe yet available.

The convergence of enterprise technology trends will continue to profoundly transform all businesses and unlock potential for innovation, our 2020 Tech Trends report reveals. The report, and accompanying insights from our annual CIO survey and Tech Trend that give a global view of trends was launched at a pan-African virtual event we hosted, with more than 500 sub-Saharan clients and employees on 21 July 2020.

The IT landscape in South Africa is facing some of its biggest shifts yet, and businesses must be ready to adapt accordingly. Adjusting to technological advancement will certainly bring new challenges in the form of security and compliance, but agile businesses that are ready to make the necessary changes will benefit greatly from this fast-changing dynamic.

The electronic communication sector has seen many changes to its legislative universe as well as important omissions. This includes the omission, likely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, of the much-anticipated Protection of Personal Information Act No 4 of 2013, widely expected to be enacted on the first of April 2020.