The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has fined Electronic Settlement Limited (ESL), N5 million for breach of the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).
In a statement made available to the media, the agency’s Spokesperson, Mrs. Hadiza Umar, said NITDA had concluded its investigation on the personal data breach by the company.
According to her, investigative process involved an analysis of the company’s applications and websites; visit to the company’s office in Lagos, review of its technical documents as submitted to the agency and interrogation of its officials by NITDA.
At the end of the process, we have established that there was a data breach involving the company, she added.
“We commend Electronic Settlement Limited for the actions taken to mitigate this breach, particularly, it’s taking full responsibility for the breach, updating identified security issues, cooperation with NITDA investigation team, recruitment of a data protection compliance organization, submission of its annual NDPR audit report and generally improving its compliance with the NDPR.
“The company’s actions demonstrate its sense of responsibility and duty to protect the data of Nigerians and customers in general. “The objective of our investigation was to assess the risk resulting from the breach, with a view to identifying the causes, remedial actions taken and other necessary issues to avoid recurrence . The company has been well briefed on our prescriptions for better information security and protection of personal data.”
In compliance with the NDPR and the need to prevent a repeat of this unfortunate breach, NITDA has directed that:
“The company shall be under a six-month information technology oversight by NITDA. The oversight shall involve oversight of implementation of prescribed security controls and processes.
“A clear data security and governance document is drawn up between the Electronic Settlement Limited and all its Information Technology services vendors identifying roles, responsibilities and processes involved in securing and protecting personal data.
“That the company conduct regular NDPR training for all staff, publish and implement appropriate policies as required by the NDPR.
“Submit 2020/2021 regulatory audit as required by Article 4.1.6 of the NDPR, conducted by a Data Protection Compliance Organization (DPCO) as licensed by NITDA.
The agency, said it has approved the extension of time for it to file their annual audit report to 30th June.