Prominent South African data privacy attorney Ahmore Burger-Smidt described 2022 as a year of “bloodbath” for personal data privacy in a recent report from her firm Werksmans. The firm manages the Lex Africa Legal Alliance, with members in over twenty-five African countries.

Cybercrime is extensive and growing in Africa, similar to trends evident in the rest of the world.

Cybercriminals employ increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks and business email compromise schemes and have expanded with cryptocurrency attacks and direct entry into data storage and other technology to steal personal data and identities.

African countries have responded through governmental and private sector efforts. South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is about two years in force, with its implementation encouragingly steadfast. Click on Episode 118 for an African view of how the battle between cybercrime and civil society is unfolding.

Time stamps:

01:33 — What cyber crime / data privacy issues are we seeing in South Africa?

03:49 — Business email compromise

09:08 — South Africa's regulatory approach to data privacy

15:35 — South Africa's regulatory regime has both carrots and sticks