By Hannes Wessels, General Manager, Southern and Francophone Africa, Binance
In 2022, 1.2 billion records were revealed across just 35 of the biggest global breaches. In 2023, an independent study undertaken by Apple and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that the total number of breaches tripled from 2013 to 2022 and more than 2.6 billion records were exposed. The threats have reached, as the report said, historic levels. Data privacy has never been more of a risk and the need for solutions that resolve this complexity and embed rigid security within transparency, has never been greater.
This is one of the core messages of Data Privacy Week 2024. Running from 24-28 January, this week of awareness initiated by the National Cybersecurity Alliance is defined as an ‘international effort to empower individuals and businesses to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust’.
It is a key initiative as it focuses on bolstering the crumbling foundations of data privacy with visibility into the risks and complexities that come with living in the digital age. People are living their lives online and personal data flows into organisations, governments and corporations, powering them as smoothly as petrol does cars. And that flow is being tapped by ransomware, exploit vendors, cryptojacking, hacking and the multitude of threats evolving and adapting online today.
The situation is further complicated by the evolution of digital payment solutions such as cryptocurrencies. The latter has evolved from niche to next-generation financial solutions and users deserve to feel safe from digital threats, working on exchanges that are stable with solid features. Binance, among other cryptocurrency companies, has prioritised security for assets and user data as standard, leveraging a 360-degree approach to security that covers everything from Know Your Customer through to machine learning. Why?
Because cybercrime is a business. Protecting personal data needs to be the same. Fortunately, the African regulatory landscape is paying attention to the challenge. Over the past few years, the number of countries across Africa implementing data protection laws and regulations has increased considerably.