MZIZI Compliance Bites

The Kenyan government launched the Gava Mkononi app this week. Against this backdrop, there are genuine concerns about steps being taken to safeguard citizen data.  Today, we review the risks associated with recycled phone numbers. Gava Mkononi and eCitizen The Kenya government has prioritised mobile phones in their digital services ambition to scale up access to government services from the current 400 to 5,000 by the end of the year. To that end, it is facilitating citizens' access to low-priced mobile phones through a local manufacturer and a leading telco. The Gava  M kononi service is an extension of the country’s eCitizen platform. The eCitizen platform uses SMS-based authentication where a single-use passcode (OTP) is sent to the subscriber's phone through a text message. Negative effects of recycled numbers More than ever, phone numbers are tied to people’s identities.  They are used to link online accounts (social media accounts, ridesharing apps, mo...

A data breach occurs when an incident exposes protected information such as personal data. The breach may involve loss or theft of a customer or employee list, an unencrypted hard drive, lost thumb drive, exposed attendee list, which may be containing names, credit card numbers, national identification/passport numbers, personal images or videos, personal health information, emails, NHIF or NSSF numbers. A data breach may be intentional or accidental. A threat actor may hack your data bases or an employee may accidentally expose that information. The concern about cyber attacks is widespread, which can have a crippling impact on businesses, but the main cause of breaches remains non-cyber incidents and human error. The stakes are high if you suffer a data breach. Hundreds of data reaches have been reported around the world. In 2019, Techweez reported a Safaricom Ltd data breach perpetrated by an employee who downloaded and offered a third party personal data affecting 11.5m customers. ...

  Digitizing policy management can help an organisation achieve culture change through accountability. A digital system provides a centralized, automated, and transparent approach to policy and procedures management that is very supportive of accountability frameworks.  Here are some ways to achieve accountability using a digital policy management system: 1. Centralized policy management : A digital system allows an organization to store all its policies and procedures in a single, central location.  This ensures that all employees have access to the most up-to-date policies and procedures, reducing the risk of non-compliance due to outdated or inaccessible policies. 2. Automated policy updates and notifications : A digital policy management system can automatically update policies and procedures and notify employees when changes are made.  This ensures that employees are always aware of changes to policies and procedures, reducing the risk of non-complianc...

  In early September of this year the headlines screamed various versions of "Facebook doesn't know where your data is, what it's engineers are doing with it." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/facebook-user-data_n_6318ff67e4b046aa0230a14e We clutched at our pearls in shock and horror. How could they?   But is Facebook's experience unique to them?  I do not think so. As you interact more intimately with the Kenyan Data Protection Act, 2019, you realise that this problem is not unique to Facebook. Many organisations do not know where their data is, or what it's constituents are doing with it. DPA,19 and Privacy by Design A major challenge with the DPA, 19 is that the government mandated a legislation without factoring the technical part, implemented by software and hardware engineers, as part of its transition.   There are resource implications of placing data protection and privacy at the centre of design.  Time, cost and technical expertise has to be factored in...