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ARTICLE · 28 SEPTEMBER 2023

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A Cautionary Tale On Data Protection

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On 1 September 2023, a major South African pharmaceutical company ("the Company") was issued with an Enforcement Notice by the Information Regulator of South Africa.

South AfricaPrivacy
Venolan Naidoo
Venolan Naidoo
Nomonde Mbanjwa
Nomonde Mbanjwa
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A Cautionary Tale on Data Protection: a reminder on ensuring specific adherence to the lawful processing of personal information as an essential to compliance under POPIA

On 1 September 2023, a major South African pharmaceutical company ("the Company") was issued with an Enforcement Notice by the Information Regulator of South Africa.

Background

In a novel finding by the Information Regulator, the Company was issued with an Enforcement Notice following a finding of a breach of various sections of the Protection of Personal Information Act of 2023 ("POPIA").

As a terse anecdote, the Company's e-Statement Service database was managed by its third-party service provider ("Third Party Service Provider"). Around April and May 2022, the Third-Party Service Provider suffered a brute-force attack. The Company became aware of the security compromise and/or data breach through an SMS sent to some employees, it was at this point that the Company notified

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