Tech Legal Matters

It took more than a decade for South Africa conclude the auctioning of the high demand telecomunications spectrum. The process has been hampered by legal battles between large telecommunications companies. All of which have conflicting interests in securing valuable spectrum bandwidth. Telecommunications spectrum is a valuable yet limited resource. In this episode of Tech Legal Matters we're joined by Lucien Pierce of PPM Attorneys, an attorney at law, to discuss the merits of the multiple spectrum-related legal challenges that regulators and telecommunications companies have taken on.

The month of July 2021 has seen the full implementation of South Africa’s Protection Of Personal Information Act (POPIA). Added to that, the Information Regulator (South Africa) is also taking over responsibility for the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) from the South African Human Rights Commission. Lucien Pierce, Attorney at PPM Attorneys joins us in this episode of Tech Legal Matter. Lucien walks us through POPIA in full, providing in-depth insights on how compliance assessments are undertaken. Understanding the many forms, data breaches may occur in practice. Clarifying the nuances around the Information Regulator’s dual balance between protection of information and promoting access to information.

South African cyberspace has entered a new dispensation. The Protection of Personal Information Act, which affords data subjects protection against their information given to entities that process data, came into full effect on 1 July 2021. In response to the growing cyber threat landscape, POPIA requires that responsible parties that process data, put in place measures that ensure compliance and minimize the risk of breaches. More intentional is the act's requirement for the registration of principal information officers, carrying the full burden of liability in the event of non-compliance. In this episode of Tech Legal Matters, Andrew Bourne, Africa Regional Manager at Zoho, walks us through how his organization meets compliance standards. As principal information officer, how he coordinates efforts to maintain and ensure privacy.

This episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is a recording from the World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition 2020. The event was successful in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas, and awareness on key areas such as cyber threat intelligence, data governance, data privacy, and cyber regulations across Africa. A cross-industry panel discussion at the 2020 World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition on cybersecurity trends for enterprises in 2020. The panel discussed several cybersecurity trends and topics that affected businesses during 2020 including: + Creating effective endpoint security strategy. + Cyber Threat Management (CTM): Enabling early identification of threats, data driven situational awareness, accurate decision-making, and timely threat mitigating actions. + Establishing Zero-Trust Security framework to protect enterprise data and prevent unauthorized access to the network. + The Impact of Coronavirus on Cyber Security: How the response to COVID-19 has increased cyber risk? The discussion was moderated by Daniel Adaramola, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Unity Bank PLC, Nigeria, and it featured the following panelists: + Ezekiel Mukanga, Head of Information Technology, Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, Zimbabwe + Hisham Mohamed Aly, Chief Information Security Officer, Emirates NBD Egypt, Egypt + Peter Hunguru, Head of Information Communication and Technology, Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA), Zimbabwe + Faheem Ali, Chief Risk Officer, Musoni, Kenya Event details - World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition 2020

This episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is a recording from the World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition 2020. The event was successful in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas, and awareness on key areas such as cyber threat intelligence, data governance, data privacy, and cyber regulations across Africa. Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Founder, 5F World, and Chairman of SVP India, Center for AI and advanced analytics, Senior Advisory Board Member, Trescon, India, delivers a keynote address at the World Cyber Security Summit Africa Edition 2020 talking about "The five digital forces for post-COVID-19 pandemic organizations."

This episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is a recording from the World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition 2020. The event was successful in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas, and awareness on key areas such as cyber threat intelligence, data governance, data privacy, and cyber regulations across Africa. The Middle East and Africa cybersecurity market was reported to be valued at approximately $18.02 billion in 2016. It is anticipated to grow at a healthy growth rate of more than 15.62% over the forecast period 2018-2025. The role of cybersecurity becomes all the more crucial as enterprises embark upon their digital transformation journey. The discussion, moderated by Confidence Staveley (Founder and Executive/Director, CyberSafe Foundation, Top 50 Women in Cyber Security Africa 2020, Nigeria) features: - Fene Osakwe, Associate Director - IT Governance, Risk and Control, IHS Towers, Nigeria - Sandip Bhadury, Chief Executive Officer, GA Insurance Ltd, Kenya - Kevin Kiereni, Head of IT, Jumia, Kenya - Winnie Sergon, Head of ICT and Innovation, Boresha SACCO Society Ltd, Kenya

This episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is a recording from the World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition 2020. The event was successful in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas, and awareness on key areas such as cyber threat intelligence, data governance, data privacy, and cyber regulations across Africa. In this episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast, Isabella Hofmeyr-Pretorius, Legal Advisor, Capitec Bank (South Africa), and Alice Namuli Blazevic, Partner Head Technology and Innovation, Katende, Ssempebwa and co Advocates (Uganda), discuss how data protection and privacy regulations can play a role in curbing cybercrime across various countries in Africa. They also share some insights on this from their work in the legal and information security sector.

This episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is a recording from the World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition 2020. The event was successful in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas, and awareness on key areas such as cyber threat intelligence, data governance, data privacy, and cyber regulations across Africa. In this episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast, Anna Collard, SVP of Content Strategy and Evangelist, KnowBe4 Africa, South Africa, shares some findings from KnowBe4's African Cyber Security Culture Research Report. This includes insights on how to define security culture in organizations and best practices to build security cultures and awareness programs.

This episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is a recording from the World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition 2020. The event was successful in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas, and awareness on key areas such as cyber threat intelligence, data governance, data privacy, and cyber regulations across Africa. Every year that passes African countries experience a growing number of cyberattacks. These cyber-attacks occur both in the private and public sectors and depending on the type of incident, can threaten national security. This makes it imperative for African governments to have a holistic view and strategy around cybersecurity. In this episode, you will hear insights from various stakeholders across Africa and the Middle East as they discuss how their countries' governments handle cybersecurity and how they attempt to have a coordinated plan. The panel discussion features: + Tefo Mohapi, iAfrikan Media (Moderator) + Peter Kahigi, Director e-Government Services, National Information Technology Authority -Uganda (NITA-U) + Rebecca Keli, Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Kenya + Muyowa Mutemwa, Cyber Security Operations Manager and Senior Cyber Security Specialist, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa + Ashish Khanna, ISO, Dubai Health Authority, United Arab Emirates + Themba Mnguni, Deputy Director, IT Audit, Department of Rural development and Land Reform, South Africa

This episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is a recording from the World Cyber Security Summit - Africa Edition 2020. The event was successful in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas, and awareness on key areas such as cyber threat intelligence, data governance, data privacy, and cyber regulations across Africa. The Communications Authority’s first-quarter report for 2018/19 shows us that the National Cybersecurity Centre detected 3.82 million cyber threats, a rise from 3.46 million reported from the last quarter. Within the review period, the banking sector remained the most targeted industry followed by government institutions. Latest statistics from the National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (KE-CIRT-CC). In this episode, we get to hear from Richard Kiarie, Principal ICT Officer/Head, Policy and Research Unit, Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, on how Kenya's government approaches national cybersecurity.

During August 2020, we got to learn of a data breach at one of South Africa’s big credit bureaus, Experian. As mentioned in the previous episode of this podcast, the whole ordeal around how the data was accessed and the subsequent disclosure statements and interviews by Experian, left more questions than answers. We’ve hard from Experian, South African Banks, and the Information Regulator of South Africa. Now, we will hear from an attorney regarding what rights you have as a consumer. Joining us on this episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is Lucien Pierce, an attorney in South Africa who specializes in Cyber Law including data protection and privacy.

For several years since 2015, we at iAfrikan.com have been reporting on and researching various cybersecurity, data protection, and privacy-related matters around Africa. We have observed several patterns, some of the more worrying patterns are that many people seem to think that data breaches are victimless crimes. Also, it rare that you will hear or read about authorities in Africa taking serious action against any organization fro failing to protect the data it handles. This is excluding in Nigeria, whereas Olufemi Daniel from the West African country's National Information Technology Development Agency has informed us in a previous episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast that they have issued various notices regarding data breaches in the country and successfully collected a fine in the process. In South Africa, during 2020 alone, we have heard of 3 notable data protection incidents that we know of. The first one was in June 2020 when Life Healthcare Group reported disruption to their IT systems due to a cyberattack. On 17 August 2020 another Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company, Momentum Metropolitan, would also downplay a cyberattack incident saying only limited data from one of its subsidiaries was accessed. The latest incident is among the more shocking, only because we have been able to learn more details about it. On 19 August 2020, Experian South Africa was publicly reported to have experienced a data breach. This was first made public by the South African Banking Risk Information Center (SABRIC). Experian would only, reluctantly, issue their statement saying they curtailed a data incident. In this special edition episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast, we take you through everything you need to know about the Experian Data Breach. What their CEO, Ferdie Pieterse has shockingly said, what the banks are saying, and a social engineering incident that led to a 77-year-old woman losing over R100,000 in 30 minutes thanks to criminals using her details to convince her they were calling from a South African bank where she has a bank account.

Nigeria's National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), was established in 2007 under the West African country's NITDA Act. The NITDA is responsible for planning, developing, and promoting the use of Information Technology across Nigeria. During January 2019, the NITDA published and was responsible for issuing the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR). The NDPR is aimed at regulating and controlling the use of data in Nigeria, it mandates that, amongst other things, private and public organizations in Nigeria that control data of natural persons need to adhere to regulations around the collection, storage, processing, and transfer of such data. Olufemi Daniel, the Lead of Regulations Monitoring and Compliance at the NITDA, joins us on this episode of Tech Legal Matters to explain what we need to know about the NDPR. Olufemi also shares some details on the upcoming revised NDPR draft bill.

You’ll often hear it being mentioned that South Africa has one of the best constitutions in the world. We could even go further and argue that this excellence in legal matters also extends into the country’s cyber laws. For example, considered a first world country, but the USA has yet to pass a law that specifically addresses personal data protection similar to South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). Not only that, POPIA, as it is commonly known, is often argued that it compares favorably with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR. However, where South Africa often fails is in the enforcement of these laws and in some cases, their understanding and how they apply to our lives and businesses. On this episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast, we are joined by Sizwe Snail ka Mtuze, an attorney and Director at Snail Attorneys as well a Part-Time Member of the Information Regulator of South Africa. Sizwe explains the various cyber laws we have in South Africa and how they apply to our lives and organizations.

With more and more people going online and various apps and digital platforms becoming part of our daily lives, the legal and security risks associated with them are also increasing. This is because all these apps and platforms collect our data in various forms. These digital platforms and apps sometimes take precautions to ensure that our data is securely stored and not accessible to anyone who shouldn’t have access to it. In some cases, like we have seen over the years at iAfrikan.com with various data breaches, this data can fall into the wrong hands. Joining us on this episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast is Rob Shavell, CEO of Abine, an American company that specializes in various solutions for personal data protection. Rob also explains what companies known as data brokers are and what they do.

When it comes to corruption, whether it be in the public or private sectors, South Africans generally lament that those accused of corrupt activities hardly ever face the consequences of their actions. This is due to several reasons some being that obtaining evidence of corrupt dealings and proving the corruption link often, legally takes time. In this episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast, we are joined by Nazreen Pandor, an attorney in Johannesburg who is also a certified fraud examiner. Nazreen explains how prosecuting corruption cases works and how whistleblowers and digital technology play an important role in these cases.

There has been significant growth in the number of financial technology solutions available to consumers in South Africa. More commonly known as FinTech, these solutions mainly aim to replace all the functions that a customer would typically perform in a physical bank branch with a digital app and platform. However, this welcome convenience and efficiency come with its own legal and regulatory risks. Among those risks are privacy, data protection, security, to name but a few. Joining us on this episode of Tech Legal Matters is Lucien Pierce, an attorney in South Africa, who will help us unpack some of the legal and regulatory considerations for FinTech solutions in South Africa.

On 25 May 2018, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation came into force amid much coverage and fanfare. Many companies, especially Internet-based ones, scrambled to comply with GDPR to ensure to they don't suffer any penalties if they were to be found guilty of not complying with any of its laws. In this episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast, we are joined by Delphine Daversin, a French qualified lawyer with 17 years of experience with a strong focus on privacy and IT regulations. Delphine explains all the key components of GDPR and looks at some case studies of where it has been applied. We also explore some similarities and key differences between GDPR and South Africa's POPIA.

Life Healthcare Group, a private healthcare company that operates private hospitals in South Africa and Botswana, recently said that their IT systems suffered "a targeted criminal attack." According to the company, the attack affected its hospital admissions systems, business processing systems, and e-mail servers. South Africa has experienced a marked increase in cybersecurity attacks and data breaches in recent years. These attacks have spanned both public and private sector organizations in the country. Joining us on this episode of Tech Legal Matters is Lucien Pierce, an attorney at PPM Attorneys in South Africa. Lucien discusses whether we should be worried as citizens and what recourse we have.

What we communicate on social media platforms may have consequences which can lead to legal prosecution. There have been several legal cases in South Africa around freedom of expression and defamation on social media. In this episode of the Tech Legal Matters podcast, we are joined by Lucien Pierce, an Attorney at PPM Attorneys. Lucien takes us through some case law examples of how the law was applied in South Africa regarding freedom of expression and defamation as they relate to social media. Looking at most of these cases, there's also a pattern that emerges: most of them involve high profile South Africans. Lucien elaborates on this too.