The Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act was signed into law last year. It places a strict onus on businesses when it comes to handling personal information about their clients, staff and customers. This includes, but is not limited to, their contact details and biometric and demographic information. The Act stipulates how companies may collect, handle, store and discard information, with heavy penalties for those that fail to comply.
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A lot of cybercrime today is geared towards stealing personal information for financial gain. Users tend to recycle passwords, as it becomes difficult to remember different passwords for different accounts, such as social media, email and online shopping stores. Once criminals have access to this information, they can use it for identity theft or to commit fraud – it’s easy to test a Facebook password against an Internet banking site, and chances are, hackers will be successful.
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