- BTC assures individuals and businesses that their data is safe in Botswana
- Encourages them to familiarise themselves with data protection laws and strategy
The Head of Operations at Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), Aldrin Sivako, said this when he opened a webinar on Data Protection and Cloud Services recently.
Themed “The Importance of Data Protection in the Digital World,” the webinar was about storing data on the Cloud followed the recently passed Data Protection Act. Sivako said data protection is another key subject that is crucial in these COVID times because countries and enterprises are in a race to pursue digital transformation initiatives in order to remain relevant and resilient into the future while observing the laws of the countries where they operate, especially laws relating to protection of personal data.
He noted that of equal concern are collection, use and sharing of personal information with third parties without notice or consent. The passing of the Data Protection Act and implementation of Botswana’s cybersecurity strategy will go a long way in ensuring that enterprises operating in the country are confidence that their businesses and customer data is safe and secure from exploitation for gain or abuse by third parties through unauthorised access, he emphasised.
Sivako said BTC has invested in cloud solutions for the benefit of its customers who have sensitive data that needs to be kept within the country and that the BTC cloud infrastructure is elastic in storage and processing capacity and is currently in use by several clients in both the private and public sectors. “The Sentlhaga Data Centre has a secure cloud services environment where sensitive data is kept and protected,” he noted. “Through this facility, customers can safely enjoy the Internet and have access to their data knowing that their data is safe.”
Also participating in the webinar, the Deputy Permanent Secretary – ICT at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Cecil Masiga, defined data protection as the legislative framework for ensuring that the privacy of individuals in relation to how their personal data is maintained, transmitted and stored. “Data protection laws regulate the protection of personal data by governmental and non-governmental organisations, and every entity that handles customers’ personal information must familiarise themselves with this piece of legislation as compliance is mandatory,” he said.
