ARTICLE · 19 APRIL 2017

Data Breaches And Cyber-Attacks: How Ready Is Your Organisation?

Clyde & Co

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Data security and cyber breaches are becoming an almost daily occurrence, as is widely reflected in increased publicity and media reports, which also demonstrate that data breaches are growing both in frequency and scope each year.

South AfricaPrivacy

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Data security and cyber breaches are becoming an almost daily occurrence, as is widely reflected in increased publicity and media reports, which also demonstrate that data breaches are growing both in frequency and scope each year.

South Africa has been slow to regulate cybercrimes and data breaches. There are currently two key pieces of proposed legislation that are relevant:

The Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPI") is South Africa's proposed data protection law aimed at addressing data privacy and security. This Act was first tabled in Parliament in 2009 and is yet to come into force.
The Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill. A second draft of the bill was introduced into parliament in February 2017. The Bill aims to consolidate offences relating to cybercrimes, as well as to create new cybercrimes and offences in order to bring South Africa in line with relevant international conventions and model laws.

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