If your organisation is faced with a cybercrime or data breach,
it is imperative that you have a clear, effective and robust plan
on hand to deal with these incidents. The plan needs to consider
the interaction between the Electronic Communications and
Transactions Act 35, 2005 (“ECTA”),
the Cybercrimes Act 19, 2020 (“Cybercrimes
Act”) and the Protection of Personal Information Act
4, 2013 (“POPIA”). Let's unpack
below:
ECTA
ECTA aims to give functional equivalence to electronic
transactions by ensuring that, generally, such transactions have
the same status as physically concluded transactions. ECTA is a law
of general application which applies to transactions which are
concluded electronically or by way of data messages. Of relevance
to data breaches, chapter XIII of ECTA deals with cybercrimes and
regulates unauthorised access to, interception of or interference
with data. Sections 85, 86, 87 and 88 create a number of cybercrime
offences. These include a
