Browsing: Data protection

Africa lags behind when it comes to data and privacy protection exposing the continent’s population to threats which could become expensive to them.

A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) shows that 107 countries have put in place legislation to secure the protection of data and privacy. 66 of these countries are developing or transition economies.

In this area, Asia and Africa show a similar level of adoption, with less than 40 per cent of countries having a law in place.

Despite the prospective growth in mobile money transfers and e-transactions, Africa is still far behind in legislation to govern the sector. In addition, cybercrime regulations are few in Africa with 39 countries having some legislation and representing 72 per cent of the continent, 2 countries have draft legislation while 12 countries have no legislation and one has no data.

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The state of data privacy is a widely discussed topic of conversation. The new EU data protection law is setting Kenya up for the next step towards foreign investment opportunities. In short, these new legal standards will place restrictions on the handling, storing and shareability of personal user data.

Following the announcement on 8 November 2019 that President Kenyatta signed the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, aligning Kenyan legislation with the EU, great interest was ignited as the new legislation offers more regulated safeguards against the misuse of personal information. Furthermore, it comes with a substantial fine of three million shillings or a two-year jail sentence, should the terms be violated.

Digital-lending apps, in particular, have come under scrutiny for malicious attacks that gain access to smartphone data without consent to determine creditworthiness. With mobile technology and digital apps on the rise, wehave already started to see resistance …