POPI Compliance
How we manage and secure information has changed over the past years, and in the business world where technology is a necessity to remain competitive, the way in which we handle and use critical data has evolved alongside it. With the increasing laws that regulate the rights of consumers, the consequences of not complying can have dire consequences – both financially and reputational. In government’s attempts to protect the public they implement the Protection of Personal Information Act – or POPI Act.
The actual meaning of POPI compliance?
The POPI act is a very complex and multi-layered set of regulations that ensure that all the information a person hands over to another party is handled with care and not used for malicious purposes.
The punishment for not adhering to the Act isn’t simply a slap on the wrist, but could, in the worst-case scenario, result in imprisonment of between 10 years and more.
Core elements of POPI compliance:
- Storage and collecting of data needed for a specific business function;
- To restrict access to stored personal data;
- Very imported is the personal information on hand should be of the best quality;
* The client should be able to see their data upon request.
Thus complying with the above-mentioned regulations requires that all information should not only be as accurate as possible, but more importantly is kept 100% secure
