4.4 Breach notification or data leaks or security compromises
Data protection authorities are supposed to be notified of data breaches by data
controllers. Under Zimbabwe's CDPA notification of security breach by the data
controller must be notified to the DPA within 24 hours and similarly for Zambia,50
which also expects data processors to notify data controllers within a
reasonable time after noticing or discovering compromise. For Eswatini section
17, Lesotho section 23 and South Africa section 22 are similarly worded
requiring that the notification should be as soon as reasonable possible after
discovery without compromising legitimate law enforcement needs, and this
notification includes to the data protection authority, and the data subject unless
if identity cannot be established. Mauritius requires notification to be within 72
hours of data breach and the communication to the data subject must be
without undue delay if there is a high risk to the rights and freedoms.51 First,
there are differences between the laws on how to handle notification of data
compromises and breaches, including an assessment of whether risks are high
for the data subject's rights and freedoms. This assessment must have
established criteria to guide the data controller, and data processors, and
developed by the data protection authorities. If there are standardised
guidelines, the practices of DPAs in for instance when breaches occur across
borders, the response protocols will be shared.
In the SADC region, only South African data controllers have disclosed security
breaches. 52 This is not to suggest that there are no data breaches or
compromises in other countries, it could be a number of reasons, including the
secretive nature of the authorities, and also their complicit in some of the data
breaches. In South Africa, the IR has been proactive in requesting data
controllers to provide additional information whenever there is a data breach.
For example, TransUnion Credit Bureau notified a security breach in March
2022, prompting the IR to request more details on 19 March 2022 of 'the date
that the security compromise occurred, the cause of the security compromise,
details of investigations into the security compromise, the extent and materiality
of the security compromise, interim measures put in place to prevent a
recurrence of the security compromise, and security measures that TransUnion
Credit Bureau has put in place to prevent a recurrence of the security
compromise'. 53 TransUnion Credit Bureau had indicated that 'at least three
million customers
ZDPA section
A data controller shall notify the Data Protection Commissioner within twenty four hours of any security breach affecting
personal data processed.
Mauritius Data Protection Act s and .
Mail and Guardian Five massive data breaches affecting South Africans June
https://mg.co.za/article/
five massive data
breaches affecting south africans/
The Regulator instructs TransUnion to report in greater detail regarding their security compromise Media Statement, Information Regulator
March
PAGE

Select target paragraph3