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CYBER SECURITY
BENARD NJOROGE
Public and Private Agencies Should Invest in Cyber Security Ahead of Data Protection Law Kenya will soon have a law that guides and regulates how people’s private data and information will be retrieved, managed, utilized and secured. However, few companies have the necessary cybersecurity infrastructure, corporate culture or data policies that will enable them keep this law without encountering major hurdles.
Mr. Njoroge is the managing director of Adrian Group Limited.
Once passed, the Data Protection Bill 2018 will provide a uniform piece of regulation whose requirements will be standardised across the entire Kenyan economy, ensuring personal data is subjected to the highest levels of security, privacy and protection, but without hindering innovation and economic growth. In line with rising personal privacy concerns, the bill proposes that “an agency shall not transfer personal data of a sub-
Startupmagazine.co.ke
June 2019
ject outside the territory of the Republic of Kenya unless the subject consents the transfer and it will be beneficial to the subject.� But even as the bill is yet to be passed into law, developments in the last five years show that we have a potential crisis in our hands if companies do not start preparing to incorporate these regulations in their data management systems and policies. The rise of local technology based services heavily reliant on private personal data clearly reveals this gap. For instance, many of the local mobile lending apps usually ask users to grant access to a lot of private information in order to qualify for a loan. This includes access to phone call records, phonebook, SMS and other geolocation information. A similar case could be made
