Johannesburg – The Information Regulator on Monday morning confirmed that it has received two notifications regarding a security compromise from the Electoral Commission (IEC).
The security compromise saw the unlawful release of candidate lists for the African National Congress (ANC) and the Umkhonto we Sizwe Party (MK) for the 2024 elections.
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The Regulator said it will attend to the notifications from the IEC under the requirements of the Protection of Personal Information Act No. 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
However, the Regulator said it advised the IEC that the notifications do not provide sufficient details about the incidents to make them compliant with POPIA requirements.
“Accordingly, the Regulator has sent an information notice to the IEC requiring the IEC to furnish the Regulator with more details regarding the incidents,” said the information regulator in a statement.
The Regulator’s information notice requests, among others, the following information from the IEC:
- Regarding the security compromise involving the ANC candidates Proof that the IEC has published the security compromise notice on its website.
- Regarding the security compromise involving the MK candidate’s proof of written notification to the MK party;
- confirmation of the number of data subjects impacted by the security compromise.
Regarding both parties:
- Provision of sufficient information to allow the data subjects to take protective measures against the potential consequences of the compromise.
- Details as to how the unauthorised person accessed the personal information of data subjects, and Details as to the technical and organisational measures that the IEC has implemented to mitigate against the risk of the affected data subjects’ personal information being unlawfully accessed and/or unlawfully processed.
The Regulator said the requested information will assist it in determining whether the IEC has met its obligations as a responsible party under POPIA.
