National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA said that it has concluded the investigation process on the personal data breach that occurred at Electronic Settlement Limited (ESL), and has placed a fine of N5m on the company.
According to NITDA, the investigation process on the personal data provision was in line with the requirements of Nigeria Data Protection Regulations (NDPR).
It further explains that the investigative process involved an analysis of the company’s applications and websites.
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NITDA investigation team also visited the company’s office in Lagos. They reviewed the technical documents submitted by ESL and interrogated its officials before reaching conclusions.
“At the end of the process, we have established that there was a data breach involving the company”, Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, NITDA, confirmed.
ESL a banking agency in Nigeria also took the responsibility for the breach and quickly took actions to control it.
It has now updated its security and recruited a data protection compliance organization. NITDA commended ESL for that.
“The company’s actions demonstrate its sense of responsibility and duty to protect the data of Nigerians and customers in general” Umar said.
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“The objective of our investigation was to assess the risk resulting from the breach.”
The company has been well briefed on our prescriptions for better information security and protection of personal data”.